Ms Suzy Byrne:

Specifically with regard to wardship discharge, which is the purpose of today's meeting, we have been working with a number of people for quite some time who are anxious to seek discharge from wardship. They have found the system difficult to navigate. One thing we alluded to in our statement is that sometimes the assessors who come to meet them to determine their capacity do not have any information when they arrive. They may not know how the person communicates, where the person is living and how he or she is supported. That meeting can be difficult. One of the roles of advocacy is to support people in those meetings. That is where we are involved. Of course, a limited number of advocates are available to support people in these situations. It is a huge benefit when advocates know people already. We have built a relationship with people and develop an advocacy plan. That is the way in which NAS would work with people.

The other issue is that we are aware of many people living in disability services for whom the services working with them, which are funded by the State to support them, are not aware and were not aware until very recently that the people they were supporting were wards of court. They may also not be aware that this process for discharge is under way because the committee and others may be instigating the process for discharge and the appointment of a new decision-maker.

Due to the fact that they are not aware, they are not able to contribute to the process, may not be able to flag any concerns they have about decision-makers who are making applications or the processes that are under way, and may not be able to support the person to communicate their wishes. There may be legal professionals and medical assessors contacting disability services and coming in and having meetings and leaving again. Vital information may missed in that process. The big difference we have noticed is that, in terms of Part 5 applications, which are applications for decision-making representatives in the Circuit Court, generally, and increasingly, the process from the courts is to seek independent advocacy to be involved in supporting somebody in order that their will and preference can be heard before the court. That is when people will contact NAS and make inquiries about those situations.

In terms of Part 6, it is not currently the practice to seek independent advocacy automatically. It is only for people who are peripheral to the process - committees, maybe some legal professionals, and the wards of court office, the office of the general solicitor, for example, or others - to submit applications for advocacy to become involved. It is possible, probably, that a lot of people being involved in this process of discharge may not have the support of independent advocacy in supporting their will and preference to be heard. They are relying on their legal professional to do so. The role of advocacy in these cases, however, is to support people in communicating with their legal representative, so there is a valid role there. That can be missed, particularly in these discharge processes that are under way.