Amendment No. 2 is related to amendment No. 1 and both may be discussed together. Is that agreed? Agreed.
Children Bill, 1997: Amendments from the Seanad.
The Dáil went into Committee to consider amendments from the Seanad.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 1:
Section 1: In page 4, subsection (5), line 5, after "Act of 1964", "(as amended by the Succession Act, 1965, the Courts Act, 1981, the Age of Majority Act, 1985, the Status of Children Act, 1987, the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989, the Child Care Act, 1991, and the Courts Act, 1991)" inserted.
Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are drafting amendments. Amendment No. 1 expands the collective citation in section (5)(1) of the Bill to make clear that the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964, has been amended by various Acts, namely the Succession Act, 1965, the Courts Act, 1981, the Age of Majority Act, 1985, the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989, the Child Care Act, 1991, and the Courts Act, 1991.
The effect of amendment No. 2 is to substitute in section (1)(5) of the Bill the collective citation, the Guardianship of Children Acts, 1964 and 1997, for the collective citation, the Guardianship of Infants Acts, 1964 and 1997. The amendments reflect modern terminology and are in line with the intention of section 12 of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 2:
Section 1: In page 4, subsection (5), line 6, "Guardianship of Infants Acts, 1964 and 1997” deleted and “Guardianship of Children Acts, 1964 to 1997” substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
Amendment No. 4 is cognate on amendment No. 3 and both may be discussed together. Is that agreed? Agreed.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 3:
Section 11: In page 10, line 3, "sections" deleted and "section" substituted. These are drafting amendments which affect the style rather than the substance of the sections to which they relate. They affect section (20)(3)(a) and section (22)(1) of the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964. It is proposed they are inserted in section 11 of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 4:
Section 11: In page 12, line 1, "sections" deleted and "section" substituted.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 5:
Section 11: In page 12, lines 37 and 38, "after the commencement of this Part" deleted.
The purpose of this amendment is to delete the words "after the commencement of this Part" from the first two lines of the proposed section 24 of the 1964 Act. Section 11 of the Bill inserts a new Part IV comprising 12 new sections into the 1964 Act. Under section 1 of the Bill, six of these proposed new sections, including section 24, will come into operation one month after the date of the passing of the Bill while the remainder will be the subject of a commencement order. There is a possibility that the words "after the commencement of this Part" in the section as currently worded may, notwithstanding the intention implied in the section, not commence until all of the other sections, including those which will be subject to a commencement order, have come into effect. The amendment will help to make clear that this is not the case.
Amendment agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 6:
Section 11: In page 13, line 6, "paragraph (a)(i) or (ii)" deleted and "sub-paragraph (i) or (ii) of paragraph (a)" substituted.
This is a small drafting amendment to section 24(b) of the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964 as proposed to be inserted by section 11 of the Bill.
Amendment agreed to.
I move that the Committee agree with the Seanad in amendment No. 7:
Section 13: In page 15, lines 10 to 16 deleted and the following substituted:
‘‘‘(d) where the court has ordered that a guardian ad litem appointed under section 28 (inserted by the Children Act, 1997) of the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964, should be legally represented in proceedings under subsection (4) of that section, and any of the parties to those proceedings is in receipt of civil legal aid.’’.’.
This is a technical drafting amendment. Under the new section 28(4) of the Act of 1964, as proposed to be inserted by section 11 of the Bill, the court is empowered to order that a guardian ad litem be legally represented in guardianship, custody or access proceedings where it appears to the court in exceptional circumstances that it is necessary and in the best interests of the child. This provision is not conditional on an application being made by the guardian ad litem. The court may do so of its own motion, having regard to the gravity of the matters that may be at issue or any other special circumstances relating to the particular case.
The new subsection (5)(d) of section 28 of the Civil Legal Aid Act, 1995, as inserted by section 13 of the Bill makes consequential amendments to the Act of 1995. The effect of the provision is to oblige the Legal Aid Board to grant a legal aid certificate to a guardian ad litem where the court has ordered that he or she be represented and any of the parties to the dispute is already in receipt of legal aid.
The provision as it stands, however, indicates that the certificate will be given on application by the guardian to the court. That wording is not consistent with the wording in the proposed new section 28 of the Act of 1964 and the amendment provides for the deletion of the reference to an application to the court.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendments reported.
Agreement to Seanad amendments is reported to the House and a message will be sent to Seanad Éireann acquainting it accordingly.