We are delighted to announce the launch of AssistedDecisions.ie – a centralised information resource for Irish practitioners in the Assisted Decision-Making field.
The website will collate all available relevant information in the Assisted Decision-Making field, and will operate a free mailing list to update interested practitioners on relevant developments as and when they happen.
The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Acts 2015-2022 will introduce several new types of decision-making agreements, including Decision Making Assistance Agreements and Co-Decision Making Agreements. In addition, the Acts will make certain changes to the existing rules around Enduring Powers of Attorney and Advanced Healthcare Directives.
Although the relevant legislation has been published, the precise parameters of the new decision-making agreements remain to be specified by ministerial regulation and/or by the Decision Support Service (DSS). These will include rules about what needs to be included in the agreements, how they are made, to whom they must be notified, whether they must be registered, and so on.
Codes of Practice have been drafted, are currently in review, and will be published in due course.
In addition, procedures relating to complaints, disputes, appeals, and court applications are still to be fully revealed. There is to be a mechanism whereby any interested party can complain to the Decision Support Service, and whereby the Decision Support Service can investigate such a complaint. There are provisions for appeals to Court from decisions of the Decision Support Service, and for other applications to Court in relation to matters falling under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Acts 2015-2022. How these complaints, disputes, appeals and court applications are to be formulated and submitted remains to be seen.
The website is aimed at practitioners and aims to:
- Collate and consolidate relevant legislation for ease of reference;
- Provide updates on new regulations, court rules, and Codes of Practice;
- Outline the procedures to be followed to create and register agreements;
- Outline the procedures to be followed for court applications;
- Provide practitioner document packs for creation, registration, court applications, etc.
The website is owned and operated by smartlegal, a business that already has significant experience in the field of legal document automation and in relation to Enduring Powers of Attorney. Website content will be provided courtesy of Gerard Groarke BL who has been in general practice at the Bar of Ireland for over 20 years.
We encourage all interested practitioners to join our mailing list to receive updates as and when new information becomes available.