Ms Angela Denning:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the invitation to appear today. I look forward to discussing progress on discharging wards of court.

The Courts Service has been responsible for the management and administration of the courts since 1999. As the members are aware, the administration of justice is a matter for the Judiciary and, in accordance with the constitutional independence of the Judiciary and the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, is outside the scope of the functions of the Courts Service. Therefore, I am precluded from commenting on any matter relating to the exercise by a judge of his or her judicial functions. This includes discussion of individual court cases or matters relating to individual wards of court. I am also, of course, precluded from commenting on matters of Government policy.

The wards of court system in Ireland was a legal framework used to protect individuals who were deemed incapable of managing their own affairs due to mental incapacity. The court appointed a committee, often a relative or solicitor, to act on the ward’s behalf within the powers granted by the court. The High Court controlled the ward’s property, finances and even decisions like medical treatment, travel and making a will. The registrar of wards of court oversees the wards of court office, which manages the daily operations related to wardship. The High Court appointed the General Solicitor as committee when no suitable family member was available, if there was a disagreement in a family as to who should act as committee or in complex cases involving significant assets, legal disputes or where professional legal expertise was needed to manage the ward’s affairs effectively.

As of 30 September 2025, there are 1,671 live adult wards of court remaining to be discharged. Under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, the High Court must review capacity, make a declaration of capacity and discharge each ward from wardship by 26 April 2026. The court must make one of three arrangements. If the court finds the ward does not lack capacity, the person is discharged from wardship and any property held in court is returned to them. If capacity is conditional on support from a co-decision-maker, the ward is discharged from wardship after a co-decision-making agreement is registered. If a person lacks capacity even with the assistance of a co-decision-maker, a decision-making representative is appointed by the court and the person is discharged from wardship. There has been a very slow uptake in the process to bring applications to discharge people from wardship, despite significant efforts by the Office of Wards of Court. Only 380 applications for discharge were lodged in 2023 and 2024, with the vast majority of these from the General Solicitor.

Based on feedback to a survey of committees in August 2024, factors for the slow pace of applications lodged include that committees found the discharge process intimidating. They were nervous about the new responsibilities that come with discharge, particularly around managing funds awarded through the courts in catastrophic and serious injury cases. Committees were worried about the costs of the discharge application and whether clawback of legal aid might apply. Some wanted to wait for the new system to bed in as they were not ready generally to embark on the process.

Since 2022, the office has mounted an extensive communications campaign with wards of court, their families, committees and members of the legal profession to encourage early applications. We have run 41 online question-and-answer sessions for committees, as well as seminars and open days where colleagues from the Legal Aid Board and the Decision Support Service provided a one-stop shop for people to explain the discharge process. In response to concerns raised in the survey, the Office of Wards of Court organised a series of in-person events in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Tullamore, in conjunction with the Decision Support Service, the Legal Aid Board, the National Disability Authority and the National Advocacy Service, to give people information on the new process.

The Office of Wards of Court has worked to ensure that every ward of court is legally represented, either through their own solicitor on record or by application to the Legal Aid Board. The office also worked with the Legal Aid Board and agreed that when wards are represented by the board, any legal aid certificates issuing prior to regulations on clawback of legal aid would not be subject to a clawback based on means. This overcomes one of the most contentious issues for some families in that they do not have to pay twice - once for a wardship application and again for a discharge application. So far, the office has submitted over 965 applications for legal aid on behalf of wards of court.

In order to meet the April 2026 statutory deadline, the Office of Wards of Court is managing two distinct streams for discharge from adult wardship. Stream 1 applications are those lodged by committees on behalf of wards of court where the legal process has been undertaken voluntarily and 1,104 such applications have been received. Over 700 of these applications were lodged in 2025. Stream 2 applications are cases that were listed by the court before 26 October 2025 for the court to issue directions on actions to be taken by the committees, their legal representatives and the Office of Wards of Court. These cases will be adjourned for three months, at which time updates will be provided to the court to advise on progress and clarify any issues. The cases will then be listed for a substantive discharge hearing before 26 April 2026. It is anticipated that up to three courts will be sitting daily to meet demand. It is not clear what the position is where the High Court does not have the evidence before it to make a declaration under section 55.

The General Solicitor is arranging for the HSE solicitors to bring discharge applications on behalf of wards of court who are subject to detention orders. These will require management in a separate court list as each hearing is expected to be complex. As of 30 September 2025, 161 wards have been discharged and 180 are listed for discharge between now and January 2026. We hope these figures will go up significantly over the coming weeks. The office continues to communicate with and support committees and wards of court through the discharge process. Our focus is to assist the High Court in its obligation to review and discharge all wards of court. I am happy to take any questions members of the committee have.