Ms Carol Anne Coolican:

I will be brief as I do not want to discommode the Minister in any way.

The Law Society welcomes this long-awaited legislation. We are very happy to engage and make further submissions if required. We would have a concern that, as drafted, the Bill is open to constitutional challenge or even referral by the President. I refer in particular to head 8, which I spoke about previously, that deals with the discretionary and mandatory remit of the courts in the appointment of a guardian ad litem.

In terms of head 3, we have some reservations that, as drafted, there are proposals in the short term to appoint a certain agency and other options may never fully be explored. We have a concern about that particular head, as articulated in our submission.

In terms of the qualifications, we have specifically mentioned that we believe the guardian should have seven years' postgraduate experience, five of which would be in child protection, and preferably with management experience. The role of the guardian ad litemis a dual one, first, to establish the views of the child and, second, to indicate clearly to the court what is in his or her best interests. The best interest principle is enshrined in private law proceedings for cases of custody, access, guardianship and adoption, and the children in those very vulnerable situations should also have those rights. It should not be a case of making flesh of one and fowl of another. The best interest principle set out in the private law legislation should also be set out in the public law legislation. We will make further submissions to the committee.