Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who cannot be here for this matter due to another commitment. On behalf of the Minister, I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this important matter here today and for giving me the opportunity to provide clarity on some issues.

I must emphasise at the outset that management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the Judiciary and 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, therefore, unable to comment on any individual case or category of cases. To be fair to the Deputy he did not speak of any cases.

As the Deputy will be aware, last year, the Department of Justice committed to undertake both a public consultation and independent research on the topic of parental alienation as part of the 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 research report and the policy paper can be accessed on the Department’s website. Both the paper and the report recognise that parental alienation is a highly contested and divisive concept. While there is little concrete information on the exact extent of accusations of parental alienation within the Irish courts, the research report found that, similar to other courts internationally, there appears to be increasing claims of parental alienation in family law proceedings. It appears to arise particularly 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 consensus in the public consultation that the means to address parental alienation lie in improvements to the Irish family courts and family justice system. The Department of Justice is currently leading on an ambitious programme of family justice reform, including the publication of the Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025 and the Family Courts Bill 2022. The strategy puts children at the centre of the system and emphasises, among other things, 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 adequately hear the voice of children, and improving the knowledge, skills and experience of all those involved to make the best determinations in each case on its own merits. This is especially important in high-conflict cases, in which allegations of parental alienation can often arise.

Both section 47 of the Family Law Act 1995 and section 32 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, as amended, provide for experts to be called as witnesses in family law proceedings. Experts can be called by the court or by one or both parties. When an expert is called as a witness they can be cross-examined on their report and any recommendations made therein.

The family justice strategy contains an action, under the goal of supporting children, to examine the role of expert reports, including section 47 and section 32 reports, in the family law process. This action has been prioritised and will look at the commissioning and availability of these reports, their content and use. This review is progressing with a set of recommendations to be produced by the end of this year. I have no doubt that Deputy Durkan will welcome this. Later in the year, a working group will be established to review the effectiveness of the current arrangements for hearing the voice of the child in private family law cases.

The strategy also emphasises the importance of training for the range of professionals involved in the family justice area. As part of this, the Department of Justice will engage with a range of bodies, including the Judicial Council and its officials, to identify training needs in communicating with children and child sensitivity training. It will also support the work of the council to provide training opportunities to all judges focused on family justice and to identify a set of training requirements for family court proceedings.

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