Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 4 is a technical amendment to enable section 69, as amended by amendment No. 5, to be moved from Part 7 to Part 8.

With regard to amendment No. 5, Senators will recall that, on Committee Stage, I indicated that I was examining what is now section 69 with the intention of introducing an amendment to the section on Report Stage. Senators will be aware this section provides that where the family High Court, family Circuit Court and family District Court have concurrent jurisdiction for proceedings under family law enactments, these proceedings shall not be initiated in the family High Court in the absence of a special reason to initiate the proceedings there. The rationale behind including this provision was to help ensure only those family law proceedings that require the consideration of the family High Court would come before that court in the first instance. I am particularly aware that, under the Constitution, the High Court is the court that has full original jurisdiction in and power to determine all matters and questions whether of law or fact, civil or criminal. This equally applies to family law matters in the family High Court.

Having reflected on the provision, I have concluded that the inclusion of a special reasons hurdle to be crossed before the initiation of proceedings in the family High Court may be interpreted as an impediment to the full original jurisdiction of the court. Clearly, this is not what was intended. By way of this amendment, I have therefore decided to remove the special reasons provisions from the Bill. It is already clear from the original guiding principles in the Bill that the court, solicitors, barristers and the parties to a case must have regard to the need to ensure the proceedings are just, expeditious and minimise the cost of proceedings. Adherence to this principle should contribute to circumstances in which only those cases that require the intervention of the family High Court will then be initiated in that court.