Ms Áine Flynn:

Those are the sorts of applications that are brought before the wardship court every day. They are often very tragic cases where someone has received an award compensation following, for example, an acquired brain injury. There can be this unfounded perception that that is somehow something that can be managed by the next of kin. If one has not been able to plan ahead by way of an enduring power of attorney, EPA, then that is not true. Anyone of us in exactly that situation could be the subject of an application for wardship.

The Chair asked what might happen if that person is unsupported by family members and there is nobody appropriate to step into that role. The court is the decision maker under wardship, with certain day-to-day decisionmaking devolving to what are called committees. There are committees for the person and committees for the estate. Often the day-to-day function is carried out by family members. Where nobody is available or suitable, it is a role that is taken on by the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court. If we think again about that number of 2,300 or so current adult wards, the general solicitor acts in about 600 of those cases. In about 25% of cases, family members are either not available or not suitable for one reason or another. That is the process, as it is in the present day.

Often those applications are brought by the Health Service Executive, HSE. Sometimes - where money is not an issue at all, but there are day-to-day decisions to be made where somebody is very much unsupported in the world - the fundamental object of the application for wardship is around safeguarding consideration. This is often the context of applications for wardship that are brought.

Having said that, I am no longer in the wardship court. I hesitate to provide an authoritative statement on exactly what is happening in the wardship court at the moment. By way of the replacement process, in the scenario that the Chair described, it would be open to a family member or anybody with a bona fide interest, if necessary, to bring an application to court. It would normally be the Circuit Court, the idea being that is more regional, accessible and less costly. The Circuit Court could say that somebody sadly lacks the capacity to make a decision around the management of this award of compensation. It will, therefore, appoint a decision-making representative to fulfill that role. If there is no family member to fulfill that role, the court can call on us to nominate a decision-making representative. We can nominate two from a panel, which we will set up and maintain. The court can then appoint a decision-making representative, who will be a professional person. We hope to make that panel as diverse as we can. They will be able to step in and carry out that decision-making role. My colleague, Ms Macklin, has been looking at setting up those panels currently. Work for their recruitment is active and ongoing.