Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This group of Seanad amendments deal with the moving of the decision support service out of the Courts Service. The amendments were in response to the Government’s decision of 8 December that responsibility for the decision support service be moved from the Courts Service to the Mental Health Commission. The Government’s decision was in response to the concerns expressed at the proposal to locate the decision support service in the Courts Service. The original decision to locate the office of the public guardian, as it was then called, in the Courts Service was based on the view that the Office of the Wards of Court would form the kernel of the staff of the new body. However, stakeholders have recommended that the decision support service be moved away from the Office of the Wards of Court to avoid the false impression that wardship could be perpetuated by another name.

Locating the decision support service in the Mental Health Commission sets a clear boundary between the old wardship system and the new options available for persons with capacity difficulties. The decision to choose the Mental Health Commission as the location of the decision support service was made because the commission has expertise in key functions that will be undertaken by the new body. It has experience of providing information, preparing codes of practice, setting standards, performing regulatory functions and undertaking investigations. It approaches its current functions from a human rights-based perspective, which is what will be important for the new body. It has the necessary skills mix needed by the new body. There will be a need for the rebranding of the Mental Health Commission to reflect its new responsibilities. This will have to be worked out with it in the coming months.

The Seanad amendments are consequential on the Government’s decision to move the decision support service to the Mental Health Commission. It is proposed that all references to the board of the Courts Service be replaced by references to the Mental Health Commission. It is proprosed that any reference to the Minister for Justice and Equality be replaced by a reference instead to the Minister for Health, as the Mental Health Commission comes within his remit.

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