It will always be a matter of life and death at pioneering Decision Support Service

The Decision Support Service will implement the Assisted Decision-making (Capacity) Act, enabling people who are physically or mentally diminished to have a say in how they live, but its terms will inevitably be set and reset by the messiness of human need, says Caroline O’Doherty.

Áine Flynn, the first director of the new Decision Support Service, which will be built up over the coming years.

The Decision Support Service will implement the Assisted Decision-making (Capacity) Act, enabling people who are physically or mentally diminished to have a say in how they live, but its terms will inevitably be set and reset by the messiness of human need, says Caroline O’Doherty.

IT’S the new state agency that few will people have heard of, but which many will come to entrust with some of the most personal aspects of their life and death.