Aine Flynn, Director of the Decision Support Service will provide social workers with an overview of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and the role of the Decision Support Service followed by a Q & A session.

• The Key Reforms the Act will bring;
• Guiding Principles;
• Functional Assessment of Capacity;
• Details of the Categories of Decisions (Property and Affairs; Personal Welfare);
• Framework of “Decision Supporters”;
• Advance Planning;
• Functions of the DSS (including registers, arrangements, investigation of complaints etc);
• Codes of Practice & Public Consultation.

Áine Flynn, Director, Decision Support Service

Originally from County Down, Áine graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a law degree and M.Litt. by research. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1999 and from 2012-2017 was a senior partner in Dublin firm, KOD Lyons, specialising in public interest law. She was on the panel of legal representatives of the Mental Health Commission and the Mental Health (Criminal Law) Review Board from their inception in 2006 and represented wards of court instructed by the General Solicitor. Áine has written and lectured on human rights and holds a further qualification in quasi-judicial decision-making. Áine has been a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society since 2012. Prior to her present appointment, she was a member of the Law Society’s Mental Health and Decision-Making Capacity Task Force. In October 2017, Áine commenced in post as the first Director of the Decision Support Service under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.