Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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646. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the Acts, or parts of Acts, awaiting commencement within her area of statutory responsibility; the reason for the delay in the commencement of each; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53562/17]

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, Youth Work Act 2001, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 and the Adoption (Amendment) Act 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. Given the considerable changes which have occurred since its enactment, my Department will be revisiting the Youth Work Act 2001 on the conclusion of the reforms in this area.

Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011

Commencement orders for the relevant provisions in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to provide for a legal framework for Special Care are being finalised in conjunction with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. Associated Regulations (governing registration of special care units and the care and welfare to be provided in such units) and standards have been agreed with HIQA and Tusla. Following some delays related to legal issues, which required clarification, it is anticipated that these provisions will be commenced in January.

A number of related technical provisions in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 will also be commenced at this time.

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It is not intended to make a commencement order as this Section will be repealed under the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017.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 General Scheme of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2017 clarifies that a Guardian ad litem will not have party status. 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.

Children (Amendment) Act 2015

Sections 6 (as it relates to section 88B), 8, 9, 10, 16, 18, 19, 26 of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 remain to be commenced. These relate to 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. An interim arrangement is in place to provide for the remission of children detention orders. 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 2018.

Adoption (Amendment) Act 2017

The following provisions of the Adoption (Amendment) Act 2017 have not yet been commenced as follows:

Section 3(a) insofar as that section relates to the insertion of the following in section 3(1) of the Principal Act: (i) the definition of “donor-conceived child”; (ii) the definition of “father”; (iii) paragraph (b) of the definition of “relevant non-guardian”.

Section 3(b) insofar as that section relates to the insertion of paragraph (b) in the definition of “parent” in section 3(1) of the Principal Act. These provide for definitions related to Part 2 and Part 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which have not yet been commenced.

Section 24(1)(a) will come in to operation on the 1st February 2018.