Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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402. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the details of the Acts currently in force for which he has lead responsibility and that have parts or sections yet to be formally commenced, including the purpose of same, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46279/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 and the Children First Act 2015 are the only Acts for which I have lead responsibility that have parts yet to be formally commenced.

A substantial element of the uncommenced sections in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 relate to provisions for special care. Given the legislative framework utilised to manage the interaction between the Child Care Act 1991 and the Health Act 2007, in relation to special care provisions, Regulations to be made by the Minister for Health under the Health Act 2007 are required in advance of the commencement of these sections. These Regulations have now been finalised. I hope to sign a Commencement Order for the relevant sections of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, and arrange for the Regulations to be signed by my colleague the Minister for Health, in the near future.

The Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law on 10th December 2015. The main body of provision relates to aftercare but it also includes provision in relation to early years services and technical amendments on foot of the commencement of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. I hope to commence this Act in the near future.

The Children (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law on 27 July 2015. This legislation amends certain provisions of the Children Act 2001 on the operation of the children detention schools. I signed the first commencement order under the 2015 Act on 27 November 2015 which brought a number of technical provisions of the Act relating to the children detention schools into force from 1 December 2015. These provisions are listed in the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 (Commencement) Order 2015, Statutory Instrument Number 539 of 2015. The remaining sections yet to be commenced relate to the ending of the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities, the introduction of a new system of remission in the children detention schools and a technical issue relating to the operation of the Children Court on the issuing of detention orders under the Children Act 2001. In relation to the first of these issues, the relevant sections are to be commenced early in 2016 on foot of the completion of the current programme of recruitment for care staff to work in the children detention schools. The sections on remission and issuing of detention orders will also be commenced early in 2016 on foot of the completion of policy work for the required secondary legislation in this area.

The Children First Act 2015 was enacted on the 19 Nov 2015. The Act is for the purpose of making further and better provision for the care and protection of children including raising awareness of child abuse and neglect, providing for reporting and management of child protection concerns and improving child protection arrangements in organisations providing services to children. The Sections that have commenced are 1 to 5 and 28, effective from 11 Dec 2015. The Sections not commenced are: Section 6-7 (Part I General and Preliminary), Section 8-13 (Part 2 Child Safeguarding Statements), Section 14-19 (Part 3 Reporting), Sections 20-27 (Part 4 Children First Inter-Departmental Group and Sectoral Implementation Plans). A significant provision in the legislation is the underpinning on a statutory basis of the Children First Interdepartmental Implementation Group. This Group, which will include a representative of all Government Departments, will be required to keep under review, the implementation of this legislation and the Children First Guidance, and to report on an annual basis to the Minister.