Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The 2015 Act is an important piece of legislation that represents significant legal reform. It changes the existing law on capacity from the status approach of the wardship system to a more rights based and flexible approach, whereby capacity is assessed on an issue and time-specific basis.

The 2015 Act will abolish the wards of court system for adults by repealing the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871. Adults currently in wardship will transition to the new decision-making support arrangements on a phased basis over 3 years from the date of commencement.

The Decision Support Service (DSS), which is the organisation that will operate the provisions of the 2015 Act, will respond to the complex decision-making needs of people with capacity difficulties. To date, the Decision Support Service has made considerable progress in preparing to operate the 2015 Act, including the development of a searchable register that will allow permitted persons to access certain information in relation to decision support arrangements.

The Decision Support Service will ensure that proper mechanisms are in place to the safeguarding of persons' data. The register will become operational following the commencement of relevant sections of both the 2015 and 2022 Acts and the necessary Statutory Instrument permitting certain persons to access the register.

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022 was signed into law on 17 December last, and the Government remains committed to commence both the 2022 Act, and the 2015 Act, on 26 April 2023.