Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know this is an issue about which the Deputy is very passionate, as am I. That is why I have brought forward the Family Courts Bill, which is being worked on at the moment. I have also introduced the family justice strategy. The Family Courts Bill will ensure that we have specific courts that deal only with family law, thereby ensuring we have the right structure, system and setting in place to support families and also to allow us to work through the enormous numbers of people who need to access the courts.

The family justice strategy has quite a number of recommendations, one of which calls for a review of expert reports and those who provide them to the courts. There are no restrictions in place at the moment, so we need to ensure we understand how these reports are provided and who provides them. We need guidance for that so I have asked for that to be done as a matter of urgency.

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