Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I convey my apologies on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Justice, who cannot be here due to another commitment. I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this important matter and giving me the opportunity to provide clarity on some of the issues he raised. I acknowledge this is an issue on which he has campaigned.

As the Deputy will be aware, management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the Judiciary and the Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. I am unable, therefore, to comment on any individual case or category of cases. It may interest the Deputy to know, however, that last year, the Department of Justice committed to undertaking both a public consultation and independent research on the topic of parental alienation as part of Justice Plan 2022. The findings of both were analysed and, arising from this, officials from the Department of Justice developed a policy paper on how to address the issue. The then acting Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, brought both the finalised policy paper and the research report to the Government on 23 May last and noted his intention to publish both reports. Both the research report and the policy paper have since been published on the Department’s website.

Both documents recognise that parental alienation is a highly contested and divisive concept. While there is little concrete information on the exact extent of the accusations of parental alienation within the Irish courts, the research report found that, similar to in other courts internationally, there appears to be an increasing number of claims of parental alienation in family law proceedings. It appears to arise especially in custody and access disputes and in cases where allegations of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence feature.

Despite the highly contested nature of the concept, there was a consensus in the public consultation that the means to address parental alienation lie in improvements to the family courts and family justice system. The Department of Justice is leading on an ambitious programme of family justice reform, including the publication of the family justice strategy and the Family Courts Bill 2022. The strategy puts children at the centre of the system and emphasises, among other matters, the need to ensure they are listened to and heard and their views given due regard, in line with constitutional obligations and rights.

Reflecting this, the policy paper puts forward six recommendations to address the issue of parental alienation. They centre on progressing elements of family justice reform, building the system’s capacity to hear adequately the voice of children, and improving the knowledge, skills and experience of all those involved to make the best determinations on each case on its own merits. This is especially important in high-conflict cases, in which allegations of parental alienation can often arise. The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, its Causes and Consequences, Reem Alsalem, which considers the abuse of the term "parental alienation", and the deliberations of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the report in the coming months, will be fully considered when work in this area is advanced.

The family justice strategy is an ambitious and wide-reaching strategy that aims to achieve reform through the implementation of more than 50 actions across nine goals. It prioritises the needs and voice of the child, containing a number of actions that stress the importance of children and their needs in a reformed family justice system and the importance of their voices being heard and views considered in a meaningful way. These include an examination of the role of expert reports including sections 47 and 32 reports in the family law process, the commissioning and availability of these reports, their content and use, and the registration and other requirements of the various professionals providing these services.

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