Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for appearing before the committee. As Deputy McConalogue has said, this is our third session of hearings on this Bill. Many of the issues addressed were raised in the previous two hearings but I believe this is the first time we have touched on the subject of children in care. As Deputy McConalogue said, there is some thinking for us to do on that. One of the advantages of dealing with legislation in the way we are doing so now is that we get to discuss and tease out all these issues before the Bill is published. That is one of the advantages of having groups and individuals appear before the committee.

On the appeals process, I do not want to put our guests on the spot as people who sit on a board, but a consistent theme in nearly all the presentations to date has been the need for some review of what is being proposed in the heads of the Bill with regard to the buck stopping at the board of management, having regard to the removal of the section 29 appeals process. The only option open then to parents is a High Court judicial review, which clearly would not be used as much as the section 29 process. When the Department officials appeared before the committee we put it to them that what they were proposing did not make sense. To follow the process, we are now saying that the board of management sets out the policy, the principal implements it or applies it and if a parent disagrees with how that has been implemented or applied, he or she can appeal it to the board of management which set out the policy in the first place. That does not make sense. The only option open after that is a High Court judicial review, and there has been much food for thought in that regard.

The only concern I have about the removal of the section 29 appeals process is that having regard to the number of appeals, a great number have been upheld. That proves the value of the process. When Mr. Loftus from the Department appeared before the committee he was upfront in saying that the appeals process, as it currently operates, is not ideal and is flawed. Our guests who sit on one of these boards might have opinions on how we can approve an appeals process. I do not want to put them on the spot in their capacity as members of the board, but they might have opinions on how we can move on from the proposal in the legislation that the board of management is the final appeals process for parents, noting that we are removing the section 29 process. What are their opinions on that and how do they envisage we can improve the Bill in that area?