Dr. Conor O'Mahony:

On the question of experts, the 2015 Act and, in particular, private family law proceedings, there is a gap in the Act in the sense that, as outlined by the Children's Rights Alliance and the Law Society, costs must be paid by the parties themselves but cannot be, which means that an expert cannot be appointed. The Act is silent on how to ascertain the views of the child where there is no expert, which leaves open the possibility that the views of the child simply are not heard.

By contrast, there are better approaches to the issue. The Brussels IIa regulation on international child abduction cases, for example, requires the court to certify either that the child's views have been heard or the reasons that has not occurred, while the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2018, which is working its way through the Oireachtas, contains a provision which states that if a guardian ad litemis not to be appointed, the court must state in open court why not and, more importantly, how the views of the child will be alternatively ascertained. That is missing, however, from the 2015 Act, which leaves open the possibility that it simply does not happen.

On the question of lengthening the proceedings and making them more expensive, that is inescapable but we have committed to it. We either follow through on the commitment or hold a referendum to repeal Article 42A and withdraw from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.