Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this legislation. Everybody in this House has dealt with individual cases in their constituencies as a result of which they got immediate inspiration as to what changes are needed in the law. Sometimes such changes work and sometimes they do not. One of our colleagues recently mentioned the rights and entitlements of children and parents. Protecting both involves a very critical balancing act and must be carefully addressed as we proceed into the future.

The purpose of the Bill is to provide that a foster parent or relative who has had a child in their care for a continuous period of five years, the child having been placed with them by the Health Service Executive, may apply to the court for increased autonomy in relation to the care of the child. That is fine on the surface. However, problems will arise. People will resort to the courts on a more regular basis to pursue their rights or what they perceive as their rights. The focus may not necessarily be on the rights of the child in the first instance but on the perceived rights of the parent or foster parent. Such cases will require the judgment of Solomon because, in my dealings with the public, I sometimes find it extremely difficult to come down on one side or the other and be certain I have taken the right side. It could be that for one reason or another one of the parties has tried to exclude the other and an argument has ensued as to whether that party has established the necessary bona fides to proceed. The party in question may prove his or her case, but when the case is examined, taking into account what the child wants or what might be in the best interests of the child, questions might arise as to whether the course of action taken was the right one.

A question arises as to when is a child not a child. The issue of the age of consent, the age of reason and so on arises. Like everybody else in this House, I have dealt with cases involving wayward children. All children are entitled to be wayward. I am talking about children who resent parental authority and decide to absent themselves from school and from home. In what way will the law now protect the parent? Will it ignore what may happen in the context of the child's future prospects? If, for example, a 15 or 16-year-old boy or girl is encouraged away from home for a continuous period in the company of an adult of the opposite sex, does the law support the return to parental authority of that child? As the law stands, the answer is "No" unless the parents have the wherewithal to contest a case in the courts. Nothing happens automatically. The case must go to court and the outcome depends on the weights and balances of the law, as the Minister of State, who is the expert in that area, knows. I do not blame the Minister of State.

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