The Centre for Disability Law and Policy (NUI Galway) and Amnesty International (Ireland) held a seminar today on getting legal capacity law right. The seminar can be viewed here. The seminar heard from Oliver Lewis from MDAC who spoke about the CRPD in international Best Practice on legal capacity law. Christine Gordon who spoke about the lessons from British Columbia on supported decision-making. Professor Gerard Quinn spoke about the challenges in realising supported decision-making. The seminar was chaired by Colm O’Gorman the Executive Director, Amnesty International (Ireland) and was addressed by Kathleen Lynch the Minister for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People. One of the really interesting aspects of the seminar was the contribution from the “experts through experience” who spoke of their perspectives on legal capacity when decision-making is called into question. Mary Farrell spoke about her experience in terms of her son who was made a Ward of Court following a High Court Award of damages for an acquired brain injury. Paul Alford spoke about his experience of moving from an institutional setting to living independently in the community and making his own decisions about how he lived his life. Bill Lloyd an advocate for older persons spoke about the deficiencies of Irish law in respecting the decision-making of one of his clients who was diagnosed with dementia. Jim Walsh shared his experience and perspectives on decision-making and persons seen as having a mental health problem.
British Columbia,Canada
Moving Towards Modern Legislation on Legal Capacity in Ireland
The Centre for Disability Law and Policy recently prepared a submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee on the Scheme of proposed legislation that will radically overhaul Irish law on legal capacity. The full submission is available here.
The core message of the submission was that the fields of mental health law, non-discrimination, and legal capacity can no longer be considered separately. In this regard the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities “recognises that considering these issues in separate silos was wrong and that the artificial lines drawn between these separate fields are increasingly blurred” and it is important to consider the impact the proposed legal capacity legislation on general non-discrimination provisions and mental health law in particular. The submission highlighted that Article 12 of the CRPD on legal capacity is at the core of the Convention and that equal recognition as a person before the law is key to the enjoyment of all other rights. The submission also flagged that the assumption of legal capacity, and the obligation on states to provide supports to people with disabilities in order to enable them to exercise their legal capacity flows from this recognition, and these are the key attributes, which need to be embedded in Irish law, in order to ensure compliance Continue reading “Moving Towards Modern Legislation on Legal Capacity in Ireland”