Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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426. To ask the Minister for Health when he will sign the commencement order for all of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and deprecation of liberty safeguards. [37172/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act provides a modern statutory framework to support decision-making by adults with capacity difficulties. The commencement of the greater part of this Act is the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for 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, the Minister for Health is 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 17th of October 2016 under section 91(2) of the Act. The role of the working group is 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 a Code(s) of Practice and will submit it to me for approval and, with my consent, the Director will then publish the Code of Practice.

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

My Department is also actively developing legislation to provide procedural safeguards to ensure that people in relevant facilities are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty.

The Government approved draft Heads of Bill on this matter for public consultation last December. This draft legislation sets out procedural safeguards to ensure that people in relevant facilities who lack capacity are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty. The approach taken in the draft legislation makes use of the decision-making procedures, supports and safeguards that already exist under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and also includes some additional safeguards specific to deprivation of liberty. The proposals build on the machinery of the Decision Support Service, which is provided for under this Act. The 51 submissions that were received as part of this public consultation are currently being analysed.

An Advisory Group comprised of key stakeholders has been formed to consider the findings of the public consultation, advise on appropriate amendments to the draft Heads of Bill and ensure that the approach taken integrates effectively with existing legislation.

Every effort is being made to progress the legislation as quickly as possible.