Ms Eibhlín Byrne:

I share the concerns of Deputies regarding the legal system. Every euro we spend on legal costs is one euro less available to us to spend on children's services. None of us wants to spend less on them. The reality is that the current system is broken and becoming increasingly adversarial. In the absence of any mediation service, it is a very difficult space that is inhabited by children and families. Operating within that system are social workers and the guardians ad litem.
I will outline some of the steps we have taken. One must bear in mind that the court is not a place where young social workers are comfortable. For many of them, it is a very unpleasant place to work. We have tried to assist, first by producing a new court report which outlines more clearly for judges the background to the case and what we are recommending. Thus we are speaking the legal language required in a courtroom. We have offered training to social workers to assist them in court. We have reduced the number of legal service users authorised from more than 1,000 to fewer than 100, so people looking for legal services within our organisation are much more able to command such a service. We have developed an in-house team of solicitors to deal with some of the work ourselves.
We have spent €6.2 million on solicitors to June 2014. We have increased the competition by inviting in more firms. In the time of austerity, when property and other areas became less fashionable, quite a few solicitors decided child care was an interest for them. We are trying to control that market. Where there are specific issues such as the Brussels II regulation or adoption, we are using centralised services.
With regard to engaging counsel, which is a major cause of concern for us and which results in a very expensive legal fee, we spent €934,000 on counsel up to June 2014.

Only the chief executive or the executive manager can authorise counsel. To June this year we only engaged on 25 occasions with senior counsel and 50 occasions with junior counsel. These are largely either very complex cases or special care cases where we are taking a child into care and depriving them of liberty, meaning it is very important that all legal advice is sought.
The guardians ad litemoperate in that system and one must note there are some highly qualified, dedicated and devoted people working in that system; it is the system itself that is broken. To June this year, the cost of guardians ad litem was €3 million. That takes in expenditure for travel, time and professional fees. One must add to that €2.69 million for solicitor fees and €501,000 for senior counsel fees to June this year. Very often, guardians ad litemin cases are calling on solicitors and barristers, sometimes in contested cases and other times not. There are a number of issues with the guardian ad litem process. There are costs associated with the system, as well as the expert witnesses very often called by the guardians and the various alternative routes suggested to courts and accepted. All this adds, under section 47, to various elements which the agency is required to provide for the court.
It is a broken system which absolutely needs a complete overhaul. The entire legal system needs to be overhauled, as we need earlier intervention and mediation in order that many of the issues facing families can be dealt with before they ever come into court. Once the parties come to court, it is a lose-lose position for the child and parent. We need a less adversarial and a more consistent approach to our courts throughout the country and we need some kind of child advocate system to replace the current guardians ad litem. It is true that although Tusla is the paymaster of the guardians ad litem, they are appointed by the court and we are not really entitled to oversee them, although we have looked at some of the expenses. We cannot, for example, decide when a guardian ad litemis used, so a guardian ad litemfrom Donegal or Galway may be invited to take part in a Dublin court. We pay the expenses and other matters, but we do not have oversight. In general, there are many very dedicated people working in a system that is ultimately broken, and until the system is fixed, we will continue to pay legal fees.