Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have no great gripe in regard to the Minister of State, Deputy Burke.

I bring this case up partially in the context of having been contacted by a few individuals looking for assistance regarding applications. I am very conscious of one in particular. By way of context, the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was passed several years ago. It is a good piece of legislation. It is one we supported and it makes sense. It makes sense given that the decisions that are being taken are very weighty and significant in terms of the responsibility for decisions being taken from one person and given to another. Obviously, it is important that there are strong safeguards in place.

It was some time between the Act being passed to it taking effect. So far, the experience of the people who have sought to apply for a role under the Act have found the system to be quite onerous. That is right, up to a point. However, I would like to raise a couple of issues. There are two major forms, as well as a couple of other forms. Form 55A is not too bad and is relatively straightforward.

However, form 55B is 28 pages long and contains some fairly lengthy questions that require parsing a couple of times. It states:

In the case of an application under Part 5 of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, explain the reason why the benefit to the Relevant Person sought to be achieved has failed to be achieved in any other appropriate, practicable and less intrusive manner (example: assisted decision-making; co-decision-making) taken prior to the making of this application

It goes on to refer to "The acquisition of property by the Relevant Person ... Please give details" and "The carrying on, on behalf of the Relevant Person, of any profession, trade or business which may lawfully be carried on by a person other than the Relevant Person (example: the management of any business which the Relevant Person owns or operates which he or she might not in future be able to undertake)".

For a form that was going to a public body, State agency or legal person, that is all fair enough. However, ordinary citizens are filling out these forms. The case I am dealing with concerns a man whose wife's dementia had escalated very rapidly to the point that she needed to be put into a nursing home. Decisions had to be taken to facilitate that. He was trying to deal with this stuff. Fair deal was coming down on him and asking him about the form. He started this process in May and it continued until September. He described being absolutely burned out.

It did not help that this happened only two days into the new system. He went to the Courts Service to look for assistance and was told the service had never seen the form before and did not know what was going on. Surely there should have been some communication with the Courts Service. He went to a lawyer, who had never seen the form. He went to gardaí who told him he needed to go to a lawyer. He did not qualify for free legal aid. Even if he did, the waiting list would be significant which would obviously have implications for the transition of his wife into a nursing home. In the meantime, she was in transitional care which they were pleased with. He is an ordinary member of the public trying to fill out a form.

I have no problem with the substance of what is trying to be achieved, but it seems to me that the forms need to be made a bit simpler and more straightforward. Support needs to be available. If people do not qualify for legal aid, that does not mean they are on the pig's back or in a better position to comprehend precisely the 60-odd question they are being asked. It is right that there are safeguards, but we need to support people working through this.

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