Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised a really important issue. The Department is continuing to work towards the establishment of the guardian ad litem national service to enable the full commencement of the Act. As I have said, a consultant, Anthony Douglas CBE, was contracted to support preparations for the establishment of the GAL national service. The outputs from this consultancy include the development of the operating model, practice manuals and workforce plans for the service, including a transition plan to facilitate the building of the new service. Building on the extensive previous consultation that informed the development of the legislation, Mr. Douglas has met with a variety of relevant stakeholders such as GALs, senior management in Tusla and members of the Judiciary to encourage their continued input into the shaping of the service.

Under the November 2022 family justice strategy, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth committed to establishing a working group to decide on the most suitable future institutional location for the GAL service and to prepare for the opening of the guardian ad litem office. This group has been convened and will continue to meet to progress this work.

The Department has received approval from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform for the director post in the service. It is anticipated that the role will be advertised in the coming weeks. There will be further engagement in respect of additional staff over 2024.

I reiterate that the unregulated nature of the provision of guardian ad litem services remains a concern for the Department but I am pleased to confirm that significant process has been made in addressing the issue, as I have outlined. I have no doubt but that the Deputy will keep a close eye on this to make sure it progresses as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context