Written answers
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Department of Justice, Equality and Defence
Court Orders
9:00 pm
Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications that have been made following the failure of residential parents to comply with court orders; and the number of such parents that have been sanctioned by the courts in accordance with section 5(2) of the Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 since the introduction of the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16107/11]
Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Section 5(2) of the Courts (No 2) Act 1986 makes it a criminal offence for the person having custody of a child to refuse to comply with a court order in relation to the custody of that child. The following table sets out details of applications made to the court for failure to comply with a court order made under Sections 7 or 11 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 during 2009 and 2010.
| Applications | Struck out/Withdrawn | Refused | Granted | |
| 2009 | 591 | 379 | 10 | 202 |
| 2010 | 619 | 343 | 111 | 165 |
The Courts Service has informed me that statistics for previous years are not available.
Cathal Garvey
Posted on 25 Jun 2011 9:35 am (Report this comment)
Although Minister Shatter was asked "the number of such parents that have been sanctioned by the courts in accordance with section 5(2) of the Courts (No. 2) Act 1986 since the introduction of the Act", he simply failed to answer this part of the question, giving rise to the possibility that he wants to keep this information secret as I am unaware of any custodial or residential parents sanctioned as per http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1986/en/act/pub/0026/sec0005.... due to their failure in complying with court orders.
As can be seen from the statistics provided, 111 such applications were granted indicating that 111 parents were found guilty of this criminal offence.