Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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310. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an update on the implementation of the Children First policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35463/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that overall responsibility for policy with respect to Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children rests with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Along with other relevant Departments and agencies, my Department is represented on the Children First Implementation Inter-Departmental Group (CFIDG), chaired by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

I can further inform the Deputy that my Department established a Justice Sector Children First Implementation Committee in June 2012 comprising officials from each of the relevant Justice Sector agencies with the overall objective of co-ordinating Children First implementation across the sector. Arising from this process a Justice Sector Children First Implementation Plan was published in June 2013 setting out the principles which apply in the Justice Sector consistent with the national guidance.This plan is currently being reviewed in light of ongoing experience in relation to its implementation and in anticipation of the provisions of the forthcoming Children First legislation.