Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

These amendments provide that enduring powers of attorney executed under the Powers of Attorney Act 1996 may continue to be registered under the 1996 Act or the 2015 Act where what I refer to as a transitional wardship application has been made. This refers to a scenario in which a person has been the subject of a wardship application at the time of commencement of the 2015 Act and that application is unresolved. I moved amendments in the Dáil to account for this transitional cohort and ensure continuity of care. These amendments provide that a person's transitional wardship application may be processed to completion, whereby the process for subsequently exiting wardship would apply.

The amendments also provide that where a decision supporter of the appropriate tier is appointed, an incomplete wardship application must be withdrawn and that nothing will prevent a person who is the subject of a wardship application from making an application for a decision supporter to be appointed. These amendments clarify the appropriate tier of decision supporters that would cause a wardship application to be withdrawn.