Ms Patricia Rickard-Clarke:

In respect of the point made about the level of support that will be available in the future for people whose family members are emigrating, this further emphasises the need for advanced care planning. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013 will contain a provision for the office of public guardian. One of the roles of the public guardian will be to devise codes of practice and a public awareness programme, including leaflets, to inform the public about the need to make wills, allocate enduring power of attorney and prepare advance care directives. It will inform the members of the public about the need to plan ahead for when they lack capacity. That is extremely important. It is also extremely important in that the Bill provides that the public guardian will work with professional groups on codes of practice that will guide these groups. For example, it is terribly important that lawyers have their own practice guidelines on how to deal with these issues.

The tendency of the courts to allow costs to be awarded out of an estate is normal practice, but it is not always the case, depending on the situation. Obviously, that is one of the current rules. Many of the administration cases coming before the courts that are being litigated arise out of people dying in debt, so there are insolvent estates and difficulties arise in how to deal with that. That is one aspect. It is important to note that under the personal insolvency legislation, one of the mandatory requirements for a debtor is to make provision in the case of incapacity or death, so that they will probably draw up a will or allocate enduring power of attorney, which is a very worthwhile provision in that legislation.

I could not emphasise the role of the public guardian strongly enough in respect of public awareness. As I said in my opening statement, the forum is a public awareness initiative, so it is up to all of us in different groups and professions and the forum to promote public awareness of that planning, which is so important. We talked about the training of health care professionals. Many members of the public do not understand that they should go to a specialist lawyer in respect of these issues, which can be complicated and very difficult in particular family situations. It is terribly important that lawyers' skills are improved, and the Law Society of Ireland has a role in that as well. The Law Society of Ireland has issued a number of guidelines, particularly in respect of dealing with older people and vulnerable people, over the past few years, but there is still more to be done in that area.

In respect of the regulation of the funeral industry, there is no bar to entry and no licence provision at the moment. There is no qualification for the embalming of bodies or opening of a crematorium. We need regulation. The council of the forum contains a representative of the Irish Association of Funeral Directors. We have a working group that is looking at these issues and will make detailed proposals in respect of this. We will be making proposals in respect of planning by local authorities for end-of-life situations.