Ms Lara Hynes:

I am the acting assistant secretary of the child policy and Tusla governance division in the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I am joined here today in person by my colleague from the early years division, Mr. Toby Wolfe, who has responsibility for the areas of the scheme as they relate to early years provision. I am also joined online by my colleagues, Ms Gill Barwise and Ms Marie Kennedy. I thank the committee and its Cathaoirleach, Deputy Funchion, for providing the Department with the opportunity to brief members on the general scheme of the child care (amendment) Bill 2023. I welcome the committee’s engagement and interest in this matter.

The Child Care Act 1991 was a transformative piece of legislation, helping to promote the protection of children. It deals with some of the most important issues that children in our society can face, and the powers contained within it can, and do, change children’s lives for the better. Despite having served children well since 1991, it is widely acknowledged that the child protection and welfare landscape in Ireland has changed greatly since the Act’s full commencement. In Better Outcomes Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020, the Government of the day committed to "review and reform as necessary, the Child Care Act 1991". The proposals being brought forward in this general scheme have been informed by significant engagement and consultation with stakeholders to collect their views on the legislation. There has also been consultation with children and young people. The scheme builds on the positive elements of the Act, making the Act more child-centred, and taking account of the many societal and legislative changes since 1991, including the establishment of the Child and Family Agency, Children First legislation and the children’s referendum. It also seeks to enhance the enforcement powers of the Tusla early years inspectorate to enable it to address instances of serious regulatory non-compliance, and to ensure parents have access to information in relation to the quality of services. In doing so, the intention is not to increase enforcement action, but instead to streamline it and address some of the limitations of the current legislation, making it more effective and so improve overall compliance within the sector.

Some of the most significant areas of change proposed include the introduction of a guiding principles section to the Act, with the best interests of the child as the overriding principle; and provision for the preparation of a guidance document by the Department, in an effort to facilitate a shared understanding of the provisions of the Child Care Act. This will be similar to Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which supports the implementation of the Children First Act 2015. We propose to make changes to section 3, which currently underpins Tusla’s statutory duty to protect children following an allegation of harm. We are proposing to reorient this section towards the duty of Tusla to support and promote the development, welfare and protection of children, which largely reflects the original intent of this section. Related amendments are proposed to the Children First Act 2015. The general scheme inserts a new section to this Act, which is intended to clarify the authority of Tusla to receive and assess reports of harm. These proposals will be augmented by forthcoming recommendations from an interdepartmental group, chaired by the Department of Justice, undertaking a review of vetting arrangements and legislation, and any changes to the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 that arise from that review. There are also proposals to enshrine interagency co-operation in law. These are intended to provide a framework for greater and more consistent co-operation from other State agencies to allow them and Tusla, to fulfil their mandates.

The introduction of a duty to co-operate between relevant bodies, such as Tusla, Departments, the Health Service Executive and An Garda Síochána will include the sharing of information between relevant bodies and Tusla, and with one another, in accordance with the law and as necessary and proportionate. This is intended to address long-standing concerns about the ability of organisations to share information with Tusla, and promote interagency co-operation.

The voice of the child is to be strengthened both in court proceedings, and decisions taken outside the court setting, by introducing a guiding principle that children should be able to participate in the decision-making process, and by modifying section 25 to facilitate more children being made party to proceedings. This builds on related amendments introduced in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2022.

Regarding local and national co-ordination, the general scheme proposes placing children and young people services committees, CYPSCs, on a statutory footing in order to recognise and enhance their local co-ordination role. A dedicated national oversight group is to be established, which will have representatives from relevant Departments, An Garda Síochána, Tusla, HSE and others, as appropriate. A role for the Ombudsman for Children to review the committee's recommendations is also provided for.

The general scheme proposes some changes to court orders that can be made in respect of children. The changes to supervision orders are intended to, for example, ensure that a child under a supervision order can be visited in a variety of settings by his or her social worker, with or without the presence of a parent, and that the social worker can consult with other relevant people in the child’s life. Changes to interim care orders are intended to reduce repeated court appearances by permitting the court to extend an interim care order up to 90 days in specific circumstances. To address drift, Tusla will have new obligations to report on its progress regarding the application for a full care order.

On voluntary care, the general scheme clarifies that this is intended to be used in circumstances where the parents will be able to resume care of the child within a reasonable period. Tusla must produce a written document about the arrangement and obtain explicit consent from the parent or guardian for such an arrangement. It also places a requirement on Tusla to review the operation of a voluntary care arrangement at least every six months.

Amendments to Part VIIA will allow Tusla's early years inspectorate to: immediately close unregistered services; temporarily suspend registered services where there are concerns about significant risk to children; share information on enforcement action with parents; and assess the suitability of a person to be a registered provider of a service through the introduction of a "fit person" regulation.

The scheme also provides for the removal of the exemptions relating to childminders to facilitate the future extension of regulation to all paid, non-relative childminders.

Our engagement with stakeholders has been very positive and useful. Where they have raised concerns that we believe can be addressed in legislation, we have tried to do that, whether by introducing enabling provisions, such as those for interagency co-operation or by amending existing provisions, such as those related to different care orders, to ensure that they remain as useful and fit for purpose as possible. However, we are conscious that there may be issues raised by stakeholders that are not addressed here. In many cases, legislation is not the right approach, and where needed we can explore whether operational or policy changes are a more appropriate response. We also continue to work with the Department of Justice on family court reform, which will greatly improve the experience of family courts for both parents and children.

Once again, I thank members for the opportunity to brief the joint committee. I am happy to address any questions that the members may have or provide any clarifications that may be required.