Results 2,241-2,260 of 32,837 for speaker:Catherine Connolly
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Is this the first written report? Has there not been any other report on guardians ad litem?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Why is that?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I thank Mr. McCarthy. The witnesses are all very welcome. It is a very positive service at its best. It is a wonderful service. It is a sign of a civilised society that we are prepared to appoint guardians ad litemto children who are in very vulnerable positions. The best and most positive change is the fact that there will be a presumption on which judges will have to act. That is a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: The fact that the service is demand-led leads to problems in terms of budget prediction. We might come back to that issue. It is also a very sad situation because on the basic figures we have, as has already been pointed out, Dublin gets the best representation. We are utterly dependent on child care law reports. Dublin got 70% of the guardians appointed, Cork got 17% and Galway city got...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Unfortunately, far more guardians ad litemwill be required. We must have them but it is a reflection of a breakdown in society. It is also a reflection of money going in at the end rather than the beginning. Dr. Lynch stated that the service is committed to prevention. That certainly has not been my experience. I do not blame those involved in the service in the sense that it is...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I do not know how that will be done given the number of children without guardians ad litem.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Yes, and extended it throughout the country.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Does Dr. Lynch have an estimate of the potential cost involved in the increase up to 100% of children?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: That is not acceptable because the current expenditure on GALs is totally off the deep end.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: No, I am asking whether Dr. Lynch has come here with a costing. Has the subject been proactively examined in view of the new legislation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Has it not been done yet?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I welcome the legislation in terms of the presumption on the part of the judge being put on a statutory footing. What I do not welcome – the Chair has touched on this – is the two-stage procedure where there will be a private service provider and then a statutory body. Why can we not do away with the first one and go straight for the second, namely, a public body with...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: It would probably be premature to disagree. I would have the most serious concerns about that policy. I think that Dr. Lynch is caught in a crisis and that he is reacting. There was the most serious publicity in yesterday's paper, the Committee of Public Accounts today, the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, and his own internal analysis. I think that he is reacting in a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Why has it not been sought? For instance, with the crisis, the Government directed the county registers that in each case of possession that came before them, they were to identify whether it was the family home. That policy direction was issued very quickly. Why has a policy direction not gone to the courts system requesting it to advise exactly how many guardians have been appointed?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Why not?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Has the Department asked for it? Has the Government by way of a policy direction? Has the Department brought it to the attention of the Government? It is the same as the matter of orders for possession. Directions were very quickly given to the county register to come up with the data. Was it a family home that was being repossessed?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I am raising it and I think that it should be done. If we can do it in the cases, which was right, we should certainly have the information here. Finally, there is the matter of the cost. There is no competitive tendering for the legal service. There is no panel. I understand that the guardianad litempicks the solicitor. Barnardos is the biggest employer of guardians ad litem. Dr. Lynch...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I will come back to my last question on the Children's Act Advisory Board and why it was abolished. Dr. Lynch has no sense of something, which tells me that either he is under-resourced or under pressure and reacting to a very serious situation where we have an unregulated guardian ad litemservice. We are taking the narrative from Barnardos.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: On Dr. Lynch's proposal going forward to have an in-house-----
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Does he envisage that in-house solicitor going to court, or just giving advice?