Written answers
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Department of Justice, Equality and Defence
Statutory Instruments
8:00 pm
Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 613: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has given any consideration to the amending of Statutory Instrument No. 338 of 2005 to reflect the different institutions that are involved in the life of a child today in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41030/11]
Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans to amend SI No. 338 of 2005 (Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 (Section 40(4) Order 2005) which prescribes a comprehensive set of persons who may, for the purpose of performing their functions, be given copies of orders or relevant extracts of orders arising from family law proceedings. However, my Department continues to keep the matter under review.
Cathal Garvey
Posted on 17 Jan 2012 1:52 am (Report this comment)
Minister Shatter has no plans to amend SI No. 338 of 2005 http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/library3.nsf/(WebFiles)/9D6ED... which "specifies those persons to whom a court order or an extract from a court order, arising from family law proceedings held in camera, may be shown or supplied. Persons receiving such orders are required not to show or supply the court order or extract to any other person save in the exercise of their official capacity" even though it currently excludes General Practitioners, hospitals, clergy and other institutions involved in the care of children, such as a Montessori Schools, Creches etc. This means that unmarried fathers cannot inform these institutions that they have been granted Court ordered Guardianship to their children and so makes Guardianship for unmarried fathers a waste of time.
Also, excluding (by omission) Public Representatives from the list of prescribed persons has the net effect of preventing parents who are unfairly treated by the so-called "Family" courts from informing their TD's of the failure of the State to respect the Constitutional rights of parents and children.