Co-Decision-Making Agreement in Ireland
What a Co-Decision-Making Agreement Is
A co-decision-making agreement is a formal decision support arrangement created by the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. It is the middle tier of support: the person makes specified decisions jointly with a trusted co-decision-maker.
Under a co-decision-making agreement, a person who has difficulty making certain decisions on their own appoints a trusted person — the "co-decision-maker" — to make those decisions jointly with them. The key word is "jointly": neither party can act alone. Every decision covered by the agreement requires both signatures, both approvals, both parties engaging.
This is fundamentally different from an EPA, where the attorney eventually acts on the person's behalf once capacity is lost. In a co-decision-making arrangement, the person retains their decision-making role throughout — they are not handing over authority, they are sharing it.
Who It Suits
Co-decision-making agreements are designed for people who have some difficulty with complex decisions but have not lost capacity entirely. Typical scenarios include:
- A person in the early stages of cognitive decline who can still understand and engage with decisions but needs support processing financial information or evaluating options
- Someone with an acquired brain injury who retains the ability to make decisions but struggles with executive function
- A person with an intellectual disability who can participate in decisions about their welfare, property, or finances when they have a trusted partner to work through the options
The person must have capacity to enter into the agreement itself — they need to understand what a co-decision-making agreement is, what decisions it covers, and who they are appointing. If they lack capacity to enter the agreement, a decision-making representative order through the court is the appropriate mechanism instead.
How to Set One Up
The process is managed through the Decision Support Service:
Choose the co-decision-maker. This must be someone aged 18 or over whom the person knows and trusts. The DSS lists specific circumstances that make a person ineligible.
Define the scope. The agreement must specify exactly which decisions it covers — personal welfare decisions, property and financial decisions, or both. It can be as narrow or as broad as needed, but it must be specific enough that both parties (and the DSS) know what falls within the agreement.
Get professional assessments. The person's capacity to enter the agreement must be assessed by a doctor or another healthcare professional, who completes a statement of capacity. The proposed co-decision-maker must also provide two character references.
Register with the DSS. The agreement is submitted to the Decision Support Service through the MyDSS portal for registration. The DSS reviews the agreement, checks the capacity evidence, and notifies relevant parties.
Ongoing reporting. Once registered, the co-decision-maker must send a written report to the DSS each year, including details of significant decisions made under the agreement.
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How It Differs from an EPA
The critical differences are:
- Timing. A co-decision-making agreement operates while the person still has some capacity. An EPA is registered while the person has full capacity but only activates when they lose it.
- Control. Under a co-decision-making agreement, the person retains joint control. Under an activated EPA, the attorney acts independently on the person's behalf.
- Scope. Co-decision-making agreements can cover both personal welfare and property/financial matters. EPAs cover property and financial affairs, but not personal welfare decisions (healthcare decisions are covered by a separate Advance Healthcare Directive).
If a person's capacity later deteriorates to the point where joint decision-making is no longer possible, the co-decision-making agreement may need to be replaced by an EPA activation or a decision-making representative order.
The Bigger Picture
Co-decision-making agreements are part of Ireland's shift away from the old wardship system, which treated capacity as all-or-nothing. The 2015 Act recognises that capacity exists on a spectrum and that many people need support with decisions rather than having all authority stripped away.
The Ireland End-of-Life Planning Guide explains Ireland's decision-support framework and the differences among its formal arrangements, so you can identify which arrangement matches your family's situation.
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