Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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648. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will outline her plans to review the way in which family law proceedings are conducted. [38879/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am determined to overhaul the operation of the family justice system, to ensure we have a more efficient and user-friendly family court system that puts the family at the centre of its work. This is a key commitment in my Justice Plan 2022. 

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to enact a Family Court Bill to create a new dedicated Family Court within the existing court structure and provide for court procedures that support a faster and less adversarial resolution of disputes. In September 2020, Government approved the drafting of a Family Court Bill along the lines of the General Scheme, which has been published. The General Scheme of the Family Court Bill has been referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and drafting is progressing with a view to publication of the Bill as soon as possible in 2022.   

I also established a Family Justice Oversight Group to develop the first national strategy for the reform of the family justice system and to support the legislative changes proposed in the planned Family Court Bill. The focus of the Group is to drive and coordinate the modernisation of the family justice system to make it more user-friendly, streamlined, supportive and, where possible, less adversarial.  The terms of reference of the Group include developing a high-level vision and medium and long-term objectives for the development of an effective national family justice system; this will be most obvious in the development of the first Family Justice Strategy and its subsequent implementation. The Strategy is currently being finalised.

As part of its work to develop the Strategy the Group engaged in a consultation process where relevant stakeholders, the public, children and young people who engage with the family justice system gave their views on how a modernised family justice system should look.  A number of common issues were raised and are being considered for inclusion in the emergent Family Justice Strategy, including: a greater focus on children; the availability of and access to support services; the potential use of less adversarial approaches to the resolution of disputes, where possible and appropriate; training; information dissemination and awareness raising.

One of the areas being considered by the Group is additional training for those working within the family justice system that would benefit all those who engage with the system. The Family Court Bill will provide that specialist knowledge and ongoing professional training in the area of family law will be required to be appointed as a Family Court judge.   

To bring a strategic focus to the question of judicial numbers, I have established the Judicial Planning Working Group to consider the number and type of judges required over the next five years. The Group is expected to report in the Autumn following consideration of an independent review of judicial numbers which is being carried out by the OECD. This review will be benchmarked against international comparisons.

The Government has committed to investing over €270m every year for the next five years in capital projects in the Justice Sector as part of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2030, which represents a significant increase on recent years. This investment will provide for the completion of vital projects including a new family law complex at Hammond Lane. It will also be used to help fund building and refurbishment projects across the Justice sector, including in court buildings. This will be key in helping us achieve our aim of building a justice system that works for everyone.