Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 11, line 4, to delete “In so far as practicable,”.

I tabled these amendments on Committee Stage. They seek to remove the five words, "in so far as practicable", from each of the provisions. To give the specific context, it comes back to the right of the child to have their voice heard and whether a child is capable of forming his or her own view and having that expressed. I took the Minister's comments on board, but I still believe it is worth pursuing. Without those words the subsection, and all the subsections are similar, would read: "In relation to any matter, application or proceedings referred to in subsection (1), in respect of any child who is capable of forming his or her own views, the Authority or the court, as the case may be, shall ascertain those views and such views shall be given due weight having regard to the age and maturity of the child." There is already a high level of conditionality there. One is whether the child is capable of forming their own views. In addition, it allows the authority or the court to give due weight to them, that is, to consider the views on their own merits and in the context of the age and maturity of the child.

However, there is no basis for making that conditional on how practicable it is. To offer a parallel, it would be similar to providing in legislation that somebody in front of a criminal court would be entitled to legal representation in so far as practicable. As far as I am concerned, it would be the right of the child and there should not be any conditionality to it. The Minister has taken some steps but we must do more to strengthen the voice of the child in proceedings. I welcome what she said regarding the heads of the Bill relating to guardian ad litem. In that context, we should consider a minimum age or a minimum age above which children's voices should always be heard. However, that is another matter.

To return to the amendment, there is no basis for making the entitlement of the child to be heard with regard to any of those sections and the proceedings that would be involved contingent on how practicable it is. As I said on Committee Stage, that phrase usually relates to matters of budget or administration. There are no circumstances I can envisage in which it could be considered to be not practicable, other than where the child is considered not capable of forming his or her own view and that is already provided for even without the inclusion of those words. All the amendments have the same effect and I will press them.

See this speech in context