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

If it were that simple it would be done already but unfortunately it is not that simple. It is the case that for somebody else to become a guardian they will have had to shown that they were for the previous 12 months a part of that child's life and a part of the day-to-day of that child's life. If both parents had been in that scenario and one is since deceased and the other is potentially up for murder or has been convicted then obviously there is nobody who can fill that space. That is one area that has to be dealt with. Second, there have been cases, unfortunately too many, where a person has killed a partner in self defence. The person who has committed the crime has been a victim for many years of either domestic or sexual violence and they have responded in self defence. We have seen many such cases and it is often the woman in this scenario. We have to look at the different types of scenarios that could result in the death of a parent or the murder of a parent because of scenarios of self defence, and there are scenarios that are not necessarily in the best interest of the child depending on the situation itself. There are other strands at work. It is not the case that the 212 recommendations are being looked at together. We are moving forward certain elements. Quite a number of the strategies are already being progressed in the zero tolerance plan and other elements of it. I mentioned the in camera rule and there is also the transfer of information between civil and criminal courts, which is very important to this part of it. That work is under way and will feed into this. I absolutely want to address the concerns raised by the Deputy but it is much more complex than just changing one simple law here.

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