Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will introduce legislation in the area of fathers' rights. [34816/07]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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In all family law proceedings relating to the upbringing of a child, the court must always regard the child's welfare as the first and paramount consideration. Where appropriate and practicable, the court will take into account also the child's wishes in the matter having regard to the age and understanding of the child. In addition, the law now places an emphasis in terms of recognising the rights of the child to the society of both of his or her parent. Section 11D of the 1964 Act, inserted by the Children Act 1997, obliges the court in proceedings relating to the welfare of a child to consider whether the child's best interests would be served by maintaining personal relations and direct and regular contact with both his or her father and mother.

Under the law as it stands, married parents living together are joint guardians and custodians of their child. If they separate, the custody is normally with the parent with whom the child is intended to reside, but the other parent still remains a guardian.

An unmarried father may apply to the court to be appointed a guardian of his child. Alternatively, where there is agreement between the parents, they can make a statutory declaration under section 2(4) of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, as inserted by section 4 of the Children Act 1997, appointing the father as a guardian of his child and without having to go to court.

The 1997 Act also provides for an emphasis on counselling and mediation as alternatives to court proceedings concerning the custody of and access to children. It encourages couples who are in dispute to think in terms of agreeing to the custody of and access to their children without the need for court interventions. Before instituting proceedings for guardianship, custody or access, a solicitor must discuss with the parent the possibility of engaging in counselling and mediation to assist in effecting an agreement between the parties. The court may adjourn any proceedings for the purpose of enabling attempts to be made by the parties to reach agreement, with or without the assistance of a third party, on some or all of the issues in dispute. An agreement in writing between parties relating to custody, access or maintenance can be made a rule of court and thus become enforceable in the same way as if it were a court order. Mediation on the various issues is by its nature a voluntary act to be undertaken by two persons who are in dispute.

The Family Support Agency, operating under the aegis of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, following the enactment of the Family Support Agency Act 2001, brings together programmes designed to support ongoing parenting relationships for children. Its functions include the provision of a family mediation service, both directly or through support for others providing these services, and the administering of grants for such purposes.

As regards the hearing of family law cases in general, the in camera rule has recently been relaxed in that the law now allows certain classes of persons to attend family law cases to draw up and publish reports, subject to certain safeguards including a requirement that the parties to a case or any relevant child would not be identifiable.

The Minister is aware of the concerns of fathers in the area of family law. Operation of the law in this area is being kept under review in his Department.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister expand on the last point he made about the nature of the review? I invite him to comment on a recent judgment of Mr. Justice McKechnie in the High Court wherein he called for a review of the law on fathers' rights. One child in three in this country is born to unmarried parents and it is timely that matters would be reviewed having regard to the fact that, in law, the father does not have any automatic rights.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is cognisant of the issues arising in this question and these matters are under review in his Department. That is a commitment from the Minister.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Does that mean legislation is envisaged?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Wider issues arise involving the consistency of judgments as between courts, whether they be in an urban or rural setting. An issue has been raised directly by judges with the Department and its officials about the consistency across the courts system with regard to decisions and matters arising from the family courts. I understand there is a commitment from judges to provide more consistency in terms of the judgments in this area. That is to be welcomed.

The Minister also commissioned a report by Dr. Carol Coulter on the operation of the family courts. That report has been published and made available to the public. Many of the points made in the report are being absorbed into the system, either at official level or by the courts themselves.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 5: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the consideration given by him to revise family law to create a new court family and assessment service to assist the courts in determining family law proceedings and in particular issues relating to the guardianship, custody and upbringing of children and in determining care proceedings relating to children. [34646/07]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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In all family law proceedings relating to the guardianship, custody and upbringing of a child, the court must always regard the child's welfare as the first and paramount consideration. Where appropriate and practicable, the court will also take into account the child's wishes in the matter having regard to his or her age and understanding. Similar statutory provisions apply in proceedings in respect of the care and protection of a child.

With regard to family assessments, section 47 of the Family Law Act 1995 provides that reports can be ordered by the courts dealing with questions affecting the welfare of any party to the proceedings. These reports deal mainly with child custody and access. In the past, they were provided by the probation and welfare service. However, because of the demands of the criminal courts, I understand the probation and welfare service has not been in a position to provide this service for some time.

Following a request from the Courts Service, the probation and welfare service agreed in 2003 to set up a pilot project for one year to provide these reports for the Dublin circuit family law courts. This initiative was of great assistance to judges but, owing to pressures from the probation and welfare service's core business in the criminal courts, the pilot was discontinued after one year. As a result, parties involved in family law disputes often engaged medical consultants, psychologists and others at considerable cost to provide evidence in court. Some judges dealing with family law expressed concern with the "over-medicalisation" of family law and the conflicting nature of the reports provided by these medical experts.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the Courts Service and the probation and welfare service reached agreement earlier this year that a system funded by the Courts Service would be established for the provision of reports to the family law courts and that the probation and welfare service would assist in the monitoring and quality control of this system.

Those providing this service will not be direct employees of the probation and welfare service but contracted on a fee per report basis. Reports will be provided by a panel of external contractors, in the main social workers and retired probation officers. The panel will have a national geographic spread and reports will be carried out by persons for a fixed fee per report. It is intended that this system will commence initially in the Dublin circuit family law courts. The probation and welfare service is appointing a senior manager to supervise and assure quality in this contract arrangement.

The Minister welcomes this initiative and is appreciative of the constructive work involved on the part of both agencies in developing this service. While he has no direct responsibility in the matter, the Minister will do whatever he can to support the initiative and looks forward to the service being fully established and working effectively to provide a service to families who find themselves in difficulty.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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When will the proposed service begin? If it is to start in Dublin, will it only apply to the three Circuit Courts dealing with family law in Dublin? Guardianship and custody disputes relating to children are dealt with in the District Court to a greater extent than in the Circuit Court.

Care proceedings relating to children are dealt with exclusively in the District Court. For years District Court judges have been crying out for a coherent and dedicated service to provide welfare assessments relating to children and family assessments to assist them in their decision-making. Such decisions are often made by High Court judges.

Why is it deemed this service should be provided for Dublin Circuit Court judges, and some outside Dublin, but to none of the Judiciary dealing with family cases in the District Courts or the High Court? Will the Minister of State acknowledge it is preferable to provide a dedicated family and welfare assessment service, available to all the Judiciary dealing with family cases?

Will the Minister of State explain why child psychiatrists, who frequently assist the courts in such cases through private payment, are excluded through the proposed scheme?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will attempt to answer some of the Deputy's questions as some are beyond me.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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They seem to be beyond the Government in general.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Shatter is an acknowledged expert in this area. This service is being provided on a pilot basis in the Dublin Circuit Court.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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This is the second pilot project.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It will be followed through on a phased basis in the Cork and Limerick Circuit Courts. The probation and welfare service is in the process of appointing a family law coordinator who will liaise with the Judiciary on the service it should access. Referrals will be processed through the Courts Service and accompanied with a sworn affidavit by the applicant and the respondent. Hopefully, the pilot project will result in a permanent standing service, which the Minister and his officials wish to happen.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The last project that lasted for one year crashed in 2003. Will the Minister of State admit that the new proposal is a half-baked grossly inadequate scheme thrown together in desperation to make a pretence of a response to Carol Coulter's report?

This area needs radical reform with the replacement of the current fragmented court structures with a dedicated system of family courts with proper family assessment and mediation services. Has the Government considered such radical change with the necessary constitutional referendum to put in place a separate court system to deal with family matters?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thought I alluded to the previous scheme in my initial reply but I will add it again for the benefit of Deputies opposite.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State told us the previous scheme ran for a year and it collapsed.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The previous scheme collapsed after one year because the Courts Service and the probation and welfare service were under pressure.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The welfare of children does not matter then.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of this latest initiative is to contract panels of experts to conduct these assessments.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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What about child psychiatrists?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is another half-baked and pathetic attempt to address the problem.

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is intended not to put the Courts Service or the probation and welfare service under additional pressures, which would lead to another collapse of this scheme. There has been a significant issue with the costs of medical and other experts.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Why are the District Courts being left out?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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From a value for money perspective it makes much more sense to do it on a contract basis.