Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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243. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details (as at 1 October 2024 and as at 1 April 2025) on the number of persons working in any capacity on the helpdesk to assist with the creation of enduring powers of attorney at the Decision Support Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18050/25]

Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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244. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details of the level of funding that was provided to the Decision Support Service during 2024, and any such additional funding that has been provided during 2025, for the purpose of facilitating the engagement of additional staffing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18051/25]

Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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246. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the plans developed to reduce the existing six-month time period that it takes the Decision Support Service to process an application to create an enduring power of attorney; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18053/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 243, 244 and 246 together.

EPAs are an important advance planning tool that enables adults to plan ahead for a time when they may lack capacity to make certain decisions for themselves, and provide a mechanism for their wishes to be respected and carried out.

Ensuring that EPAs are processed in a timely a manner is therefore a key concern for my Department as well as for the Decision Support Service (DSS).

In this regard I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the timeline from submission of an EPA to its registration has been reduced to three and a half months. This includes the five-week statutory notice period which, by law and as a safeguarding measure, will always apply. The majority of applications submitted to the DSS are created via the online portal, which can be processed more expeditiously than manual applications. The DSS keeps all of its timelines and processes under continuous review.

In July of last year, a new accessibility policy was implemented by the DSS which includes a dedicated EPA helpdesk service to ensure that individuals who require additional assistance in completing an online EPA application are supported in doing so.

This enhanced helpdesk service, which commenced operations in September, alongside helpful instructional videos and other guidance material provided on the DSS website, has already seen an increased volume of EPAs being registered, with over 1,500 being registered from July 2024 to the end of February 2025, and over 2,000 EPAs registered in total.

My Department approved the establishment of the dedicated helpdesk for a period of 11 months. The total amount of funding funding allocated to the DSS in 2024 was €9.075m, from which overall allocation the temporary staff operating the helpdesk were funded. Funding of €10.438m has been allocated to the DSS in 2025, from which overall allocation the temporary helpdesk staff are being funded.

The number of persons working on the dedicated EPA helpdesk in any capacity as at 1 October 2024 and 1 April 2025 is 10.

My Department will continue to work in partnership with the DSS in respect of their resourcing requirements to ensure that services offered are user-centric and accessible, and that applicants are supported as necessary to make their relevant application. I encourage all adults to think about advance planning. Anyone requiring assistance in relation to making or assisting a donor to make an EPA is welcome to contact the DSS by phone at (01) 211 9750 or by email at queries@decisionsupportservice.ie and its team will be pleased to help.

Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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245. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details of the expenditure incurred, broken down by year, on developing social media videos on topics relating to the services provided by the Decision Support Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18052/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The DSS has responsibility for the operation of many of the provisions of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, 2015.

In that regard one of the key statutory functions of the DSS is to promote public awareness and public confidence in relation to the Act and related matters, highlighting the benefits and importance of advance planning, and encouraging adults to plan for a time when they may lack the capacity to make certain decisions for themselves. This includes ensuring that the public is provided with accessible information across multiple media channels about the provisions of the Act.

Across four years - since 2021 to the end of 2024 - the DSS has produced videos that have helped to inform and educate both the public, and legal, financial, healthcare and other professionals on various matters relating to the 2015 Act, such as Codes of Practices, and the new decision-support arrangements available.

The expenditure incurred in developing these videos across the years requested is provided in tabular form below: