Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following the end of the public consultation on 9 March, the Department of Health will amend the draft heads of the Bill on deprivation of liberty as necessary, with a view to submitting them to Government in a stand-alone Bill for approval before the summer recess, followed by pre-legislative scrutiny, drafting of the Bill and enactment before the end of 2018. It should be noted that since the deprivation of liberty proposals will require the full operation of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and the decision support services, provisions cannot in any event be commenced until that service is fully up and running. In addition, the proposal will also have significant resource implications for court services, the Legal Aid Board and the health service. While it is not possible at the moment to provide an exact timeframe for the full commencement of the 2015 Act, and the establishment of the decision support services, every effort is under way to ensure that the decision support service has all the necessary capacity to open for business as soon as possible.

Respite services in County Louth are at an all-time low. The rumour is that St. John of God in Drumcar is going to be closing very shortly. There will then be no respite services in County Louth. Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, all politicians in County Louth will be meeting Jude O'Neill from the HSE social care division for Louth. We will be discussing the future provision of HSE respite care services within County Louth. I hope we will be getting good news. As I said, we have been meeting families for the last number of years. In fairness, the Minster of State has also met people from County Louth. In Dundalk there is a turnkey house that is ready for people to move into straight away and I appeal to the Minister of State to give us good news tomorrow.

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