Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising tissues relating to the operation of the Assisted Decision-Making Act 2015. However, it is not appropriate for me to comment on individual applications made to the Decision Support Service (DSS).

The DSS is the organisation charged with operating the provisions of the 2015 Act, and as such are required to respond to the complex decision-making needs of people with capacity difficulties. Under several parts of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act), as amended, applications may be made to the DSS to facilitate the registration of a variety of decision support agreements.

The DSS may be contacted directly for information regarding an application and will provide assistance in relation to the progress of that application.

It is understood from engagement with the DSS that all queries from the period referenced by the Deputy in the details supplied to me, along with any ancillary or related queries, have been or are being addressed.

The DSS, which is in its first year of operation, endeavours to process all applications in a timely manner, and to respond to all queries relating to applications made under the 2015 Act. The DSS operate a website decisionsupportservice.ie which contains a portal for applications, and can be contacted at 01-2119750. Parliamentary queries can also be sent to the Decision Support Service through publicaffairs@decisionsupportservice.ie.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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On the 26th of April this year I commenced the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act), along with the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022. This allowed for the Decision Support Service to become operational, and to commence processing certain types of decision support applications under different Parts of the Act.

The statistics below include all applications processed by the Decision Support Service under Parts 3 (Decision-Making Assistance), 4 (Co-Decision-Making), and 7(Enduring Powers of Attorney) of the 2015 Act, and orders issued by the Circuit Court under Part 5 (Decision-Making Representation).

'Applications submitted since commencement' are applications that are fully submitted by the applicant so are complete from their perspective. They are in various stages in the process, noting that notice and objection periods are built in as safeguards under the Act, which add to the overall processing timeframe.

The DSS has 1498 active applications on their system, comprising enduring powers of attorney, co-decision-making agreements and decision-making assistance agreements. The number of registered arrangements continues to grow, and the number of Part 5 decision-making representation orders received from the Circuit Court is also on the rise.

The Decision Support Service also deal with a huge volume of queries each month, by phone, email and other forms of communication, as people seek to understand the legislation and the application making process. The DSS also holds a range of other functions under the Act, including supervision of decision support arrangements, maintenance of a decision supports register, maintenance of different panels to support the operation of the Act, promotion of the Act, as well as other key functions.

Commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making Act brought an end to wardship in the State for adults, by repealing the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871 and replacing the wards of court system with the new process for appointing tiered decision support arrangements that is now in effect. All existing wards of court are due to exit wardship on a phased basis within three years of commencement.

Wardship was a disempowering system that places a third party’s assessment of a person’s “best interests” above that person’s own will and preference. Under Assisted Decision-Making legislation a flexible functional approach to capacity will be taken, where capacity is assessed on an issue and time-specific basis.

The new system of decision support arrangements is supporting people to continue to exercise control over their daily affairs and to carry on with lives of their choosing, even in the context of diminished capacity.