Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has answered the questions himself. It is imperative that Tusla get involved in the case. The court directing that it is not welcome is, to my mind, a violation of the mother's rights, which cannot be tolerated. I ask the Minister to encourage Tusla to get involved in the case to secure the children's rights. Presumably, the court psychologist's report would back that up, but it did not, because it was only requisitioned on behalf of one side. The other person was not allowed to counter it. I cannot understand how that could happen. If it is an attempt to set a precedent and change the law, I do not understand how that could happen either, because we change the law here. The point is that the law is the law. People will always say that they want justice when they go to the courts, but as I always say that they will get the law. We do not want anything else. The rules are that the interests of the child be put to the front of every argument and debate of that nature. I have dealt with scores of them, just as the Ceann Comhairle and other Members of the House have. In every single case, the rights of the child had to be protected.

In this case there are two children separated from their mother by order. I believe it is a violation of the rights of the children and the rights of the mother.

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