Ms Maria Corbett:

I have two comments. First, Senator Black asked how can we do it better and how are we here. I refer back to where we started in the proceedings, which was the need for a specialist court. Most other jurisdictions have a specialist court for child protection. We talked about facilities and buildings. However, if we can put that aside for a minute and think about the management of the system, a unified common system approach in child and family cases, both private and public, would make a significant difference because common rules would be applicable in those courts. At present, the District Court comprises 24 separate districts with their own rules. Having multiple courts within them, these are 24 districts with their own set of rules. Good practice that may exist in one place is not transferred to another. A common set of rules operating across the system would make a big difference and would address some of the delays that we see. It is not necessary delay, but duplication. One will have a hearing on the same issue across the country. Continually, the issues are being re-litigated. Issues such as access to Garda DVDs in evidence and how to deal with hearsay evidence are constantly re-litigated because it is operating at the District Court level.

If there was a common unified court system, cases could be moved from the District Court to a higher court when necessary. In the work that the child care law project did on complex cases, one could clearly see that the District Court was not equipped, both in terms of its rules in terms of discovery and other rules. It did not have the time. Those cases should have been brought up. I am thinking, in particular, of cases relating to child sexual abuse allegations or other cases where many experts are brought in and assessments are needed. I suppose one aspect is to go back to that. The unified approach with a flexibility within the court structure would make a significant difference.

The other point is slightly separate. We have talked a lot about early intervention preventing people getting to court but in the child protection area, getting children from care back home is important. One of the examples of good practice in other jurisdictions is a family drug and alcohol court. The idea is that often if a child goes into care, the core issue in the family is an addiction issue, and the likelihood of reunification is not strong. To improve the likelihood of reunification, one works with the parent on his or her addiction issues. A different model is introduced. It is more a therapeutic-judicial model where the judge and the parent engage on the parent's addiction with the goal of getting the child back home. I merely bring that to the committee's attention.