Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I support the amendment. I refer, for example, to the OECD report on older people and transitions which pointed out how difficult the move into long-term care can be for individuals, that they may have significant difficulties communicating their needs, as Senator Norris stated, and that they may need to be helped in this process by an appropriately trained person, for example, a speech and language therapist. The purpose of the amendment is to tailor the process of the capacity assessment to the individual's need to demonstrate capacity successfully. It is important that there would be a provision such as this in the Bill. It would mean that the person's needs would be met more effectively and that they would be catalogued and noted more effectively so that in terms of a court case or any review of the care, for example, the stated wishes of the individual would be clearly laid out at an early stage of the assessment. The more we can do that, the better.

It is really about human dignity and respect for the wishes of the individual. Clearly, if persons are somewhat incapacitated, whether physically or mentally, they need help, whether on the educational level of which Senator Norris spoke or on a capacity level such as where one might need a speech therapist. This amendment ensures such is the approach that would be adopted. I assume when the care assessment is done this would be incorporated to a degree but this spells it out in more detail.