Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from yesterday's Order of Business, at which I spoke on the Guerin report and sought a debate on it in this House, I wish to report to the House that the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality is going to attend before the justice committee on, I think, next Tuesday, 20 May. Indeed, we are in the process this morning of conducting hearings on oversight mechanisms for policing and the Garda. I would again ask the Leader for a more overarching debate in the House on policing and the findings of the Guerin report in early course. Now that we know the Secretary General is likely to attend next week, I believe we could move forward during the following week or the week after that to have a debate in this House on policing.

I thank the Leader again for organising the debate last night on Boko Haram and the appalling abductions of the schoolgirls in Nigeria. In the course of that debate, some interesting issues were raised. In particular, I commend Senator van Turnhout on raising an issue about domestic legislation which is open to potential abuse, namely, the provisions in the Family Law Act, as retained by the Civil Registration Act 2004, which allow an exemption from the normal legal minimum age for marriage, which is 18, and allow children to marry at 16 under certain conditions. That exemption has been commented on unfavourably in the High Court as being open to abuse. I would like to express my support for Senator van Turnhout's view that we could bring forward Private Members' legislation in this House on the issue. Indeed, it is something I some months ago raised with the former Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Social Protection and I believe there would be support at Government level for such legislation. I will certainly be working with Senator van Turnhout on that and we might seek a debate on it in due course.