Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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565. To ask the Minister for Health when he will make commencement orders in respect of the remaining sections that fall under his remit of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16693/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was signed into law on 30 December 2015. The Act provides a modern statutory framework to support decision-making by adults with capacity difficulties, and the greater part of this Act is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality.

The commencement of Part 8 of the Act, which provides a legislative framework for advance healthcare directives (AHDs) is a matter for my Department. An AHD is a statement made by a person with capacity setting out his or her will and preferences regarding treatment decisions that may arise in the future when he or she no longer has capacity.

Under section 91 of the Act, I am responsible for the establishment of a multidisciplinary working group to assist in the development and preparation of the Code of Practice for the AHD provisions of the Act. I established this multidisciplinary working group on 17 October 2016 under section 91(2) of the Act. The role of the working group will be to prepare a detailed series of recommendations for the Director of the Decision Support Service, in relation to codes of practice. The Director will subsequently prepare and submit a Code(s) of Practice to me for my consent to publish.

The preparation of the Code of Practice will facilitate the subsequent commencement of Part 8 of the Act, pertaining to AHDs, in its entirety.