Dr. Geoffrey Shannon:

The Deputy's question is a fundamental one. The Irish people voted for a system in which children would be heard. The expectation is that the Oireachtas would move to legislate in a coherent fashion for hearing the voice of the child. I have had quite a lot of experience internationally on this issue and I have been asked regularly by the Anglophone and Germanophone judicial network to speak at conferences on how systems operate internationally. We now have a constitutional principle that children should be heard but we do not have the infrastructure. I argue that we have world-class legislation but third-world infrastructure when it comes to implementing a lot of the reform. Where that is lacking is in the detail. We need a system in which proceedings are tailored to the needs of the child. That is something we sometimes lose sight of. We need to be clear that there are various methods by which to hear the voice of the child. We need to look at where the child is at. Guardian ad litemprovision is inconsistently implemented. When it comes to the Judiciary hearing children, we need a structure around that. We have a decision of Mr. Justice Abbott, which I cited in my opening statement, which provides some guidelines. However, we need a clear framework for hearing the voice of the child so that there is consistency and so that, no matter where a child lives, he or she has the opportunity to have his or her views heard fully. That can be achieved by enacting legislation which maps out the various methods by which the voice of the child is heard, whether it is the guardian ad litemsystem, hearing directly from children, a judge hearing a child or that the child is heard through an expert. That should revolve around the needs of the child rather than those of the system.