Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that for the first time the voice of the child is being brought into this arena because that has been lacking in the past. Following the train of thought of my two colleagues present, the words "brought by the State" appears restrictive. Is there a particular legal reason or any other reason the Minister believes it should refer only to cases brought by the State? I raised this with the Minister earlier when I asked if an incident occurred while a child was in foster care and a father or mother felt there was a need to bring the foster parents to court, whether the child's voice would be heard in that instance by somebody else taking the case? It is not just the State that could be in that situation. The amendment is trying to address that and remove the "brought by the State" reference from the Bill.

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