Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Tá fáilte roimh na finnéithe go léir. Gabhaim buíochas leo as achan rud.

In relation to the overall framework, we once had a system where any man with a suit could take control of somebody's life and take all their personal responsibility away from them. We also had a history of putting people away in institutions. Everything is done from the point of view of a human rights ethos, which is absolutely correct. However, as a constituency TD you can sometimes become tempered by where this does not work. I am going to throw out two examples and ask witnesses about the framework. I am always afraid about anything that involves solicitors and courts and the fact that we are dealing with a backlogged system, which is, no doubt, impacting on this. The witnesses can tell me about that from an informed position.

If I take the example of mental health, there are circumstances where somebody who very obviously requires help does not believe they do due to their condition. The rules and regulations and how they are sometimes operated with regards to doctors, gardaí and whoever else relate to getting that person where they need to be. In the example I have in mind, the person finally got there but that was after multiple arrests under the Mental Health Act 2001 and failure to get him into voluntary committal. It was almost by pure chance that it got sorted. I am just using it as an example and it is probably a fairly extreme example but that does not mean that is how we should set the rules. Many people who have worked in the disability services will talk about particular cases. I get the idea that people will assume a level of capacity. However, while these people have some element of capacity, they do not have complete capacity. Then there is the idea that they may have the absolute freedom to make really bad decisions that impact on their life. I have a question about the framework, about where it is going and the impact it has. Obviously for individuals, whether they are the wards of court or sorting out issues related to assisted decision-making, there is an issue with regard to power of attorney and most solicitors do not want to touch it at the moment. I am throwing a lot out for the witnesses.