Dr. Róisín O'Shea:

As researchers, we support Treoir's position. We need that legislative change to have automatic guardianship. It may deter the mothers from putting the father's name on the birth certificate, but that is another argument.

FRCs are operated by Tusla and are under its wing. The Kilkenny FRC trialled contact on its own initiative. There are 120 FRCs in the country and they have a little leeway to do their own thing to a certain extent. The Newpark Close FRC in Kilkenny trialled operating as a contact centre which meant that staff had to volunteer to come in on weekends or after hours to act as a point of contact. The 120 FRCs have the facilities to operate as contact centres. They also took part in a pilot with Barnardos and some of them were contact centres.

Returning to my original point, let us take existing State resources and look at the 120 Tusla buildings. We could figure it out if it is a question of funding staff who are on salary to stay a bit longer. Arc Mediation has a 57-page handbook for a model we want to give to the State and roll out in the 120 FRCs in 2020. That way, State-offered mediation, not private mediation, can sit in the middle of the resources available within the centres, which are extraordinary and have everything a family needs. It will also link to the courts to provide enforcement. The Mediation Act does that.