Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Section 9 of the Bill amends section 19 of the Adoption Act 2010 by substituting a new section 19 to reflect Article 42A of the Constitution. This section provides that in the resolution of any matter, application or proceedings referred to in the section, the Adoption Authority or the court, as the case may be, shall in respect of any child who is capable of forming her or his own views, ascertain the child's views and such views shall be given due weight, having regard to the age and maturity of the child.

Subsection (4) provides that I may make regulations prescribing the procedures by which the authority or the court shall determine how best to ascertain and give due weight to the views of the child in any matter, application or proceedings. As currently drafted, it is possible to interpret this provision as attempting to provide that I have the power to regulate how a court reaches its decision by prescribing the weight to be attached to the views of the child but that is not my intention.

The policy intention of these amendments is to prescribe the mechanisms by which the views of the child can be ascertained so that the authority or the court, as the case may be, can give those views their due weight in its deliberations. With amendment No. 8 I am proposing to amend this section to clarify that the regulations made under this section shall only prescribe the mechanisms by which the views of the child shall be ascertained and that it is a matter for the court or the authority to determine the due weight that is to be attached to the child's views.

Subsection 9(6) provides that in determining for the purposes of subsection (3) how the child's views shall be ascertained and heard and how such views shall be given due weight, having regard to the age and maturity of the child, the authority or the court, as the case may be, shall have regard to the regulations made by the Minister under the subsection. Further consideration has been given to this subsection and it has been decided that it is not required in the circumstances and amendment No. 12 proposes to delete that subsection. Amendment No. 11 is a technical amendment resulting from the deletion of subsection (6). I recommend that these amendments are accepted.