Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Committee on Disability Matters

Autonomy and Integrity for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion

2:00 am

Ms Angela Denning:

We have 904 cases listed for directions and 1,104 listed for discharge. It is only when those cases come before the court that the judges will see the evidence as to whether they can make an order at that point. That is where we have a remaining reservation. What happens in the event that, through nobody's fault, the evidence is not there to discharge somebody? There is a bit of a lacuna there as to what is to happen after 26 April. That is the only reservation we would have. Through nobody's fault, an order cannot be made over the question of whether the existing regime is to remain or whether somebody is to be discharged regardless of whether the necessary supports are in place for them.