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

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 10, to delete line 26.

This series of amendments, including some related technical and consequential amendments, provides for the substitution of the provisions relating to the mechanisms of the making of family court rules and for certain practice and procedural matters in the family court divisions.

While it was originally proposed when the Bill was published that there would be either a specific family law rules committee or family law subcommittee I now consider that simpler and less expansive arrangements for the making of family law rules of court would be much more appropriate. Stakeholder consultations with the Courts Service in particular have supported this approach, not least because it would better align with the guiding principles in the Bill in being just and expeditious. The alternative arrangements I am proposing in these amendments are, as has always been the intention, directed at ensuring there will be consistency in approach to the making of family law rules right across the family court jurisdictions. They should also ensure family law rules will be given appropriate attention by the currently established rules committees.

What I am doing by way of these amendments is replacing the provisions in the original Part 6 of the Bill dealing with establishment of a specific family law rules committee or family law rules subcommittee and substituting them with alternative provisions. The new Part 6 of the Bill makes provision for the addition of family court judges to each of the existing rules committees. Significantly, there will also be a new family courts practice and procedures committee that will comprise the principal judge of each of the family court divisions, as well as officials from the Courts Service who can recommend the making of particular family law rules to the established rules committee. The presence and the participation of Courts Service officials in particular in this new committee will facilitate matters relevant to the statutory functions of the Courts Service being part of the considerations of the making of family rules courts. Schedule 2 and the Long Title are amended, as appropriate, to reflect the amendments that are being made.

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