By Brian Hunt

Few areas of legal practice speak more directly to dignity, autonomy and future planning than the Enduring Power of Attorney. Yet, for many people creating an EPA remains far too complex, inaccessible, and unreasonably burdensome.

Solicitors are all too familiar with the challenges.

As many of you will know, the Programme for Government committed to the development of a solicitor portal. Specifically, it contained commitments to:

• Support the Decision Support Service and review the operation of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.
• Work with the Law Society to create a solicitor’s portal to simplify enduring Power of Attorney applications.

Since then, the Law Society has continued to push for the implementation of this commitment – meeting with political leaders and senior Departmental officials on a number of occasions.

In September, we met again with senior officials at the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, along with a delegation from the Decision Support Service.

Overall, the meeting was constructive, and so I am keen to update colleagues.

The recent meeting focused on the continuing challenges that practitioners and members of the public are having in relation to the process for making an Enduring Power of Attorney. Topics addressed during the meeting included:

• An update on Programme for Government commitments relating to the solicitors’ portal,
• Barriers to accessing an EPA,
• The need for a broader digital approach which is more reflective of the needs of core users,
• Clarity on the process for making an EPA in urgent circumstances,
• Processing time for EPA applications,
• Required legislative changes.

The officials from the Department were open to hearing more about the Law Society’s perspective on the functionality required of a solicitors’ portal.

Other positives to note from the meeting include an indication that the DSS has made some modifications to the portal.  One such change includes the option for an applicant/donor to indicate that there is a solicitor on record and that correspondence should be directed at the solicitor.

Since that meeting, the Law Society has hosted a workshop session with the DSS for a small number of practitioners to conduct a walk-through the EPA-making process on the DSS platform and identify opportunities for simplification.

The Law Society is also developing high level proposals on the functionality required of a solicitors’ portal.

We will also be formally requesting that a number of legislative changes be made in respect of key aspects of the EPA making process – such as the removal of the requirement that the Attorneys be present at the same time, and  changes to the current requirement to notify certain family members of the making of an EPA.

We agree with the DSS that not enough people in Ireland are creating an EPA.

The DSS’s 2021 forecast estimated that 5,556 decision support arrangements would be made in the first six months alone.

If we extrapolate from the DSS’s initial projection for the first six months, the number of decision support arrangements in-place by March 2025 should have been in excess of 20,000, yet the total number of EPAs registered as of September 2025 is only 4,059.

To put that in perspective, there are over 800,000 people in Ireland aged over 65. That means less than 1% of this cohort have an EPA in place under the current system.

The challenges that members of the public have faced in putting in place an EPA are also being experienced by solicitors. Our 2025 Solicitor Survey revealed that 68% of solicitor respondents provided an EPA service prior to April 2023, but of those a majority (59%) no longer provide the service.

The current system is not working well or as well at it could, particularly for those most in need of putting in place an Enduring Power of Attorney.

We’re working to secure improvements to the EPA making process and want to ensure that you are aware of the steps that are being taken.