Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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366. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the Acts or sections or other provisions of Acts, coming wholly or partly under the auspices of her Department, or for the commencement of which her Department is wholly or partly responsible, which are not in force and which require the future making of a commencement order; if, in each case, it is intended to make such an order; if so, when; the reason for the failure to make such an order to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5264/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department has responsibility for the following Acts, or parts of Acts, which have yet to be fully commenced, the Children First Act 2015, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, the Children (Amendment) Act 2015, the Youth Work Act 2001 and Part 11 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015.

Children First Act 2015

Sections 6-17 and Section 27 of the Children First Act 2015 are not yet commenced. A number of provisions of the Act have already been commenced as follows:

(i) Sections 1 to 5 and section 28 of the Act were commenced on 10 December 2015. (ii) Section 18 and Sections 20-26 were commenced on 1 May 2016.

As the Act imposes obligations on certain individuals working with children and on relevant service providers, the Minister believes it is vital that all individuals and sectors are fully prepared and ready to implement the remaining provisions of the legislation before they are commenced. To that end the Minister recently signed off on a proposal for phased and structured preparations for implementation which will allow for full commencement of these provisions by end December, 2017. These include those related to mandated reporting of child abuse, mandated assisting and the preparation of Child Safeguarding Statements by organisations providing relevant services to children.

The phased implementation timetable will also allow Tusla to undertake the significant preparatory work required to enable it to fully meet its obligations under the legislation. This will include ensuring that the appropriate internal systems are in place to deal with the intake of mandated reports by Tusla and that a suite of resources is available to support and assist all sectors in implementing the legislation. The Department is working closely with Tusla in relation to making available basic Children First training, information and resource materials.

Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (Part 11)

As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I have responsibility for the commencement of Part 11 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (2015 Act). Part 11 of the 2015 Act amended the Adoption Act 2010 to provide for civil partners and cohabiting couples to be eligible to apply to adopt a child.

Part 11 of the 2015 Act was reviewed in relation to the provisions of the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 and amendments were considered necessary to ensure clarity and coherence in adoption legislation. This is being achieved by the proposed repeal of Part 11 of the 2015 Act and by bringing forward the relevant provisions into the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016. This Bill is scheduled for Report Stage in the Seanad on 22 February.

Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015

With regard to aftercare, which is covered under sections 2 to 9 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, commencement of the relevant provisions is anticipated following the outcome of consultations with Tusla with regard to appropriate timing and the readiness of the Child and Family Agency to implement same.

With regard to the technical amendments, covered under sections 13, 14 and 15, a draft Commencement Order is currently being finalised by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. The commencement of these sections will need to be sequenced appropriately with the commencement of related sections of the Health Act 2007 and the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011. It is anticipated that the technical amendments will be commenced shortly.

Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011

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. A draft Commencement Order is currently being finalised by the Office of Parliamentary Council.

Section 13 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 is not commenced. Section 13 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 relates to amendments proposed to section 26 of the 1991 Act (Guardians ad litem) and these amendments which have not commenced will not now be required as they are being replaced more extensively by provisions in the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017.

It is not intended to make a commencement order as this Section will be repealed under the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017.

Section 14(b) of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 is not commenced. This section proposes to amend section 27 to clarify that a reference in that section to a ‘party’ includes a reference to a GAL (section 14(b) of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011.

The Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017 clarifies that a Guardian ad litem will not have party status as s/he is more in the nature of an expert witness. The amendment proposed by section 14(b) of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 is not, therefore, consistent with the proposed policy direction. It is not intended to make a commencement order as this Section will be repealed under the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017.

Youth Work Act 2001

The Sections of the Youth Work Act 2001 yet to be commenced are Sections 8 to 16, 19 to 23 and 25 to 37.

Since the enactment of the Youth Work Act, in 2001 there have been significant policy and legislative developments that are relevant to the provision of youth services. These include the publication of the Value for Money and Policy Review of Youth Funding Schemes and the National Youth Strategy 2015-2020.

The Value for Money and Policy Review made a number of recommendations for the future operation of the youth schemes and their development in the years ahead. It recommends the development of a new evidence-based and outcomes-focussed scheme designed to secure the optimal outcomes for young people and their communities.

Work on the development of this scheme has been prioritised by my Department. I intend that the provisions of the Youth Work Act 2001 will be considered in the light of these developments.

Children (Amendment) Act 2015

The remaining sections of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 which have yet to be commenced, as listed below, 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, this was contingent on the completion of a recruitment programme of care staff and of capital works at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus. It is intended to commence the relevant sections in this regard in 2017. An interim arrangement is in place to provide for the remission of children detention orders pending the completion of related policy work. It is intended that the relevant sections of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 dealing with remission and the issuing of detention orders will be commenced in 2017.

Sections of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 remaining to be commenced: 3, 4(d), 6 (as it relates to section 88B), 8, 9, 10, 16, 18, 19, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32.