Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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456. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that were made wards of court in 2019 and to date in 2020; the reason for the discrepancies in the figures provided by her Department in Parliamentary Question No. 488 of 8 December 2020 which stated that 346 persons were declared wards in 2019 and 271 persons to date in 2020, and the figures provided by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in Parliamentary Question No. 441 of 8 December 2020 which held that 385 persons were declared wards of court in 2019 and 269 to date in 2020; the correct figure for the number of persons who were declared wards of court in 2019 and to date in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43384/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The High Court has jurisdiction in wards of court matters and management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions under the Courts Service Act 1998.

However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made regarding the variations you have raised. The Courts Service has informed me that the figure of 385 in Parliamentary Question No. 441 of 8 December 2020, answered by the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth, included 39 minor wards of court in addition to the 346 adult wards of court as referred to in Parliamentary Question No. 488.

The Courts Service has also explained that the variation in the figures for 2020 arises as the Courts Service figures are continuously updated. Parliamentary Question No. 488 showed that 2 additional declaration orders had been signed in the time the information was gathered. For the Deputy’s further information, the figure for 2020, as of lunchtime 10 December 2020, stands at 276.

Work is currently underway at the Department of Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth to establish the Decision Support Service to modernise the wards of court system.