Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
369. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Justice the progress to date in implementing recommendations 9, 11 and 36 of the Report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on Reform of the Family Law System; the expected timeline for the introduction of such changes as recommended by the Oireachtas Committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5669/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraFamily law reform is a priority for me as Minister and was a major element of my Justice Plan 2021.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to enact a Family Court Bill to create a new dedicated Family Court within the existing court structure and provide for court procedures that support a faster and less adversarial resolution of disputes in specialised centres.
In September 2020, Government approved the drafting of a Family Court Bill along the lines of the General Scheme, which has been published. This has been referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for drafting. Work is ongoing on the drafting of the Bill, with a view to its publication as soon as possible in 2022.
My Department is in the process of finalising a Family Justice Strategy, which will set out a high-level vision and key medium and longer-term objectives for the development of a national family justice system in parallel with the establishment of a dedicated Family Court structure as envisaged by the forthcoming Family Court Bill.
To develop the new strategy, a Family Justice Oversight Group was established by my Department. To assist its work, this Group has engaged in a phased consultation process where relevant stakeholders, the public, children and young people who engage with the family justice system gave their views on how a modernised family justice system should look. As part of the consultation process, two advisory groups have also been established comprising a subset of (1) NGOs and (2) practitioners and academics to further engage on issues emerging from the initial consultation phases.
One of the areas being considered by the Group is additional training for those working within the family justice system that would benefit all those who engage with the system. As part of the General Scheme of the Family Court Bill, specialist knowledge and ongoing professional training in the area of family law would be required to be appointed as a Family Court judge. An action to publish the new family justice strategy will be included in Justice Plan 2022.
To better inform further discussion on parental alienation, my Department arranged for research to be carried out last year, with the Research and Data Analytics Unit of my Department having prepared a research brief.
Following a competitive tender process in May, research commenced on this important work in June. The aims of the research included to:
- Identify the various definitions and characteristics of parental alienation being used internationally.
- Investigate what is known about the prevalence of this issue (in Ireland or internationally) through examination of the literature.
- Identify and outline the various approaches and responses being taken in other jurisdictions to deal with the issue of parental alienation (legislative and otherwise).
- Describe, outline and evaluate any studies which have examined the effectiveness of these various international approaches and assess the relevance of these studies to the Irish context.
I am pleased to say that a draft report was received by my Department at the end of November and is now being reviewed. It is also my intention to commence a public consultation on the topic in the coming weeks. Both the research and consultation will, I expect, create a deeper understanding of the issue, and inform my Department’s consideration of policy and law in this area.
The best interests of the child will of course be paramount in any considerations.
