Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amendment will allow for the undertaking of court reporting and research under Part 5 and gives powers to make regulations providing for certain classes of persons to make reports on proceedings taking place under Part 5. The necessary access to proceedings will be provided and the identity of persons will kept confidential in such reporting. This point was first raised by Deputy Sherlock on Committee Stage in the House and I am happy to have been able to introduce this amendment on Committee Stage in the Seanad, particularly given the significant value that research can add both in terms of improvement in legislation and creating consistency across the court system. I think the reference was to the family law court reporting system, which has proved to be an invaluable but also confidential mechanism for understanding the approaches adopted in family law cases while still respecting the in camera rule. This allows for something similar to take place in the context of cases decided under the new Part 5 system for decision support.

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