Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, I again thank Deputy Durkan for raising this really important matter. The Minister intends to reform how our family law system operates to make it more efficient and user-friendly and less adversarial and to develop a system that puts the family at the centre of its work. That is very welcome.

The Department also arranged for a separate strand of independent research on parental alienation to be carried out last year. The Minister is pleased to say that a draft report has been received by the Department and is being reviewed. It is expected that the research and the public consultation will create a deeper understanding of the issue and inform the Department's consideration of policy in law in this area. Work is ongoing to integrate these strands of work and the Minister expects a report outlining the outcome of the research and consultation process and any resulting recommendations. I take on board the Deputy's point. This is really welcome news and cannot happen soon enough but it is the immediate term about which the Deputy is concerned and I will certainly pass on his comments to the Minister.

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