John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 7, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 1 of Act 2015

12.Section 1 of the Act of 2015 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (7):

“(7) Part 9 shall come into operation 54 months from enactment or on such earlier day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision of that Part and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.”.”.

This is an important amendment to section 1 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 to provide that "Part 9 shall come into operation 54 months from enactment or on such earlier day or days as the Minister may appoint by order". The Act only allows for Part 9 to be commenced by order of the Minister. As it has been more than 46 months since the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 was enacted and key Parts have not yet commenced, this amendment proposes to make October 2019 the latest date on which Part 9 can be commenced.

I am aware that Parts 2 and 3 are not included in this amendment and they must be commenced in tandem. However, their inclusion would not have been permissible under Standing Orders. Since the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 was enacted in April 2015, we have had a referendum on civil marriage equality, the Marriage Act 2015, two amendment Bills aiming to fix typographical errors and six deadlines missed by the Department of Health. All of that has happened in four years, during which time same-sex parents have conceived and raised children and their families have not been recognised. Some very important civil rights are absent from the family unit. I outlined all of that during the Second Stage debate and I am acutely aware that the Minister and committee members are aware of how serious this matter is and how vulnerable it makes families. The legislation that was proclaimed as embracing their family formation before the law has now turned into a headache and disappointment as deadlines have been missed time and time again and many delays have been announced.

Parts 2, 3 and 9, as I mentioned on Second Reading, were originally supposed to be commenced one year after the enactment in April 2016. The delays have occurred and we cannot fix them now, but we can ensure that Part 9, without which this Bill is useless, will be commenced in a reasonable timeframe.

During the Second Stage debate the Minister said "a small amount of administrative work needs to be done in the Department of Health and the HSE". The amendment I have brought forward will ensure that this will be done in the next eight months. From what the Minister has told us, that is a reasonable timeframe. She will probably give us a deadline which her Department and the Department of Health are working towards. I have no reason to doubt that but, unfortunately, too many timeframes have passed and too many deadlines have been missed.

This is an important amendment. We owe it to the families that have been left vulnerable and waiting and whose civil rights have been denied.