People with an Intellectual Disability do not have clear Rights to make Decisions - Law must be Updated

• Major conference on capacity tomorrow (Thursday)
• Inclusion Ireland to emphasise need to replace Wards of Court system

People with an intellectual disability do not have clear rights to make decisions. The law on deciding who has decision making capacity is totally inadequate and arrangements for supported and substitute decision making are non-existing. The new Scheme of the Mental Capacity Bill 2008, which is being discussed today at a conference jointly hosted by the Department of Justice and the National Disability Authority, is the first piece of new legislation in this area since the Lunacy Act of 1871. While Inclusion Ireland welcomes this new initiative, the new Scheme does not go far enough. Inclusion Ireland CEO Deirdre Carroll will make a presentation at this conference. Ireland must introduce new capacity legislation in order to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, which Ireland has signed up to.

Under the new Scheme, the courts will continue to be used to determine if a person with an intellectual disability has capacity. Inclusion Ireland favours proposals put forward by the Law Reform Commission, which allow for tribunals to decide on capacity. This system would better support the person’s rights.

While Inclusion Ireland recognises the importance of this new Scheme, it has not taken on the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission, and is in danger of replacing the current Wards of Court system with another court system, albeit it being somewhat changed.

ENDS

Presentation at Capacity Conference by Deirdre Carroll, CEO, Inclusion Ireland, 5th February 2009:

- Powerpoint

- Full speech in Word document

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