Mr. Mark Garrett:

I thank the committee for putting a spotlight on these important issues. I am joined by my colleague Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, SC, the Law Society’s director of policy. He is also a member of the Law Society’s family and child law committee and is very much aware of the current issues and concerns in this area.

The Law Society’s submission to the joint committee made the following five recommendations in response to questions raised - increase the use of the award-of-costs provision to alleviate the financial burden on lone parents when seeking payment of maintenance owed, and act as a penalty for the respondent party; maximise the reliefs available under the Children and Family Relationship Act 2015 where there have been consistent breaches of access orders; introduce guidelines to assist in determining appropriate maintenance contributions; establish set penalties for breaching court orders relating to child maintenance, access and custody; and, perhaps most significant, support the establishment of a State child maintenance agency to assist in matters relating to child maintenance.

We have provided detail of how those recommendations were arrived at. We will be very glad to discuss this further today if helpful. We also provided the committee with our 2021 submission to the Child Maintenance Review Group. This highlighted the importance of maintenance for the support and well-being of the child from both financial and social policy perspectives. We also welcomed the proposed establishment of a State maintenance agency, similar to the UK’s Child Maintenance Service, and detailed the various services and supports that might be provided through such a vehicle. These include providing guidance on the calculation of appropriate levels of maintenance; assisting parents in reaching agreed maintenance arrangements; assisting in – or, where appropriate, bringing – court applications to determine maintenance when it is in dispute; acting as the collecting agent for maintenance payments in appropriate cases; and engaging in the enforcement of maintenance and the collection of arrears, either directly or in concert with other State agencies.

We believe the cumulative effect of centralising these supports through one agency would be to minimise acrimony between the parties, to the ultimate benefit of the child or children involved.

The submission also compared enforcement provisions across various jurisdictions that may assist the committee in its work.

We believe these measures, together with progress on the family court Bill, which we appreciate has been listed as priority legislation for publication this autumn session, have the potential to greatly improve users’ current experience of the family law infrastructure in the State. We will be glad to take any questions and assist the committee in any way we can. Again, I thank members for their time and considering these important matters.