Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Ruane for raising this issue. In my view, there are no circumstances in which a ten-year-old child or anyone underage should be getting a court order or formal order to appear in court, especially when it comes to the issue of rent arrears. I have a formal response which outlines the situations where, potentially, someone who is under the age of 18 may receive a formal letter. Certainly, I do not think there is any justification for the situations the Senator described. Clearly, there needs to be flexibility or, at the very least, a review of the process of where this happens so that we can protect the type of person about whom the Senator is talking.

Obviously, it is my understanding that it would be the clerk of the court who would issue formal invitations to appear-----