3022. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of applications for enduring power of attorney that have been made per year since 2020. [58393/26]

I thank the Deputy for their question regarding the Decision Support Service (DSS) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs). EPAs are a vital advance planning tool that enable adults to plan ahead for a time when they may have diminished decision-making capacity, ensuring that a person’s wishes are known and respected.

It must be noted that, while the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was enacted in 2015, the Act was not commenced until the 26th of April, 2023. Therefore any EPAs made prior to that date would have been made under the Powers of Attorney Act 1996 and are not contained on the DSS register. EPAs which were created under the 1996 Act and prior to the commencement of the 2015 Act can still be registered and activated by the High Court in the advent of the loss of the donor’s capacity. EPAs made under the 1996 Act lie outside my Department’s remit and fall instead under the remit of the Department of Justice and the Courts Service.

The figures provided below are those EPA applications received by the Decision Support Service annually since commencement.

The increasing number of EPA applications demonstrates an increased awareness amongst adults of the importance of advance planning.

The DSS publishes up-to-date statistics on the number of registered decision support arrangements, along with other metrics, every month on their website which can be accessed at

www.decisionsupportservice.ie/decision-support-arrangement-statistics