Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I should have welcomed the Minister of State to the House. He is very welcome back. I thank him and his officials for the engagement we have had on these issues since the last time the matter was discussed here. I think we all very much welcome the two new Government amendments, namely, amendments Nos. 47a and 47b. We recognise that they go a long way to meeting many of the concerns we had raised previously.

To deal with two points the Minister of State raised in respect of amendment No. 6 and why he said he could not accept an amendment that would list a set of criteria, we sought to address that problem of having an exhaustive list which would preclude reference to other factors in our proposed section 5(1)(k) in amendment No. 6 by stating that the court should have regard to "any other matter which appears ... to be relevant to the safety and welfare of the applicant and any dependent person".

Further, I would have thought that our list was a sensible list. It is a list that a court should have regard to in any case. It is not in any way intended to prolong a hearing to the detriment of the applicant, nor do I think it would have that effect. However, it would provide a structured framework within which these applications could be made. This sort of structured framework is currently lacking in the making of these applications. The intention is not to tie the discretion of judges. The discretion remains with the judge. It simply requires the court to have regard to these factors.

Lastly, NGOs working on the front line with victims and survivors of domestic violence have been very supportive of and have been pushing for an amendment such as this one. I understand that their view is that, of the group of amendments, amendment No. 6 would best meet the needs of victims and survivors in the courts.