Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to tease out this a little further as well.

I also welcome the intention to give due weight to the views of the child, which is contained in the Minister's amendment No. 6. On the description of an appropriate person, the Minister can prescribe an appropriate person and the amendment lists the possible kinds of persons, and considering their qualifications, training and expertise etc I suppose I merely wanted to get some sense of what kind of persons and what particular professions the Minister is talking about.

It relates to the guardian ad litemissue, raised by Deputies Rabbitte and Ó Laoghaire, as to whether that is too precise a definition. Is that why the Minister does not use the term or is the Minister keeping it looser in order to have different possible appropriate persons?

I presume that having such appropriate persons does not mean that the child personally, if he or she is an appropriate age, cannot express his or her views on the issues concerned. Maybe the Minister could clarify some of that.

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