Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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1762.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his views on the expiration of the contract for the Child Law Project; if a tender process will open for the period after October 2024; and his plans to allocate funding to the Child Law Project for any potential future period in which no contractor is in place to execute the service. [31330/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Department of Children) funds the Child Law Project (CLP) to attend and report on child care proceedings. Child care proceedings ordinarily occur otherwise than in public, and the CLP has an important role in highlighting for policy makers those issues that may impact on children as they arise in these proceedings.

In accordance with the funding agreement and work plan for this iteration of the project, the CLP ceased attending court proceedings in June 2024 and published a final volume of court reports in relation to this period on 8th July.

The Department of Children renews the project periodically through a competitive tender process. The most recent tender process concluded in late 2021, and the current project will conclude in October 2024 having operated for a period of 3 years.

The Minister for Children met with the CLP in March and confirmed his intention that funding will be made available for a future iteration of the court reporting project, which will be awarded by his Department following a competitive procurement process.

Preparatory work is underway within the Department of Children in advance of a new procurement process. At this time there is no agreed date for the issuance of an invitation to tender.