Ms Áine Flynn:

Evidently, the presumption of capacity is one of the guiding principles under the Act and the fact that somebody has an enduring mental illness does not further indicate a lack of capacity. The Deputy referred to the absolute freedom to make bad decisions. That is not a principle of the Act. Sometimes it is misquoted as far as that goes. The Act does not confer an unlimited right on anybody to do unwise things. Section 8 states that the fact that you want to make an unwise decision, or you have decided to do something to do something that seems objectively unwise does not mean you lack the capacity to decide to do it. The Deputy's question gets somewhat into the territory of mental health legislation and, again, that is more the business of my colleagues on the wider Mental Health Commission. I do not know if anyone else is volunteering for the question on the enduring powers of attorney.