Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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1085.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will consider a wider white paper approach to family law reform; the reforms to supports and services that will take place in the context of legislative changes due to family law, especially with regard to court assumptions of women being the primary caregiver; and the implications this may have for both parties in divorce cases.[34315/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is fully committed to reforming the family justice system in Ireland.

In November 2022, I published the Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025. The Strategy puts children at the centre of the system, and emphasises, amongst other things, the need to ensure they are listened to, heard, and their views given due regard, in line with constitutional obligations and rights.

As the Deputy will be aware that the Family Justice Strategy sets out a vision for a family justice system of the future - a system that will focus on the needs and rights of children and which helps them and their families obtain earlier appropriate resolutions in a simpler, fairer, more effective way. The Strategy is a wholistic, system–wide approach and therefore I have no plans for a White Paper.

It aims to achieve this through the implementation of over 50 actions across nine goals. The Strategy is foundational in nature, recognising the many issues that currently exist within the system and outlining the steps needed to move towards a family justice system that is streamlined and user-friendly, and which supports and protects children and their families.

A key component of the Strategy is the development of a Family Courts Bill 2022, which provides for the establishment of a Family High Court, a Family Circuit Court and a Family District Court within the existing court structures, each of which dealing with family law matters as appropriate to its jurisdiction. These matters would include divorce, judicial separations and co-habitation proceedings.

The Bill provides a set of guiding principles to help ensure that the Family Court system will make the best interests of the child a primary consideration in all family law proceedings, operate in an efficient and user-friendly manner, and encourage active case management by the courts.

These guiding principles encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution where appropriate, promote good case management practice, ensuring that proceedings are conducted as far as possible in a user-friendly manner, and minimising the cost of proceedings where feasible.

The Bill provides for the assignment of judges with appropriate specialist knowledge to each of the family court divisions and for ongoing professional training in the area of family law. Each of the Family Court divisions will have judges assigned to them on a full-time basis.

Among the aims of the Bill is to enable a greater proportion of non-contentious family law matters to be dealt with at District Court level, in order to minimise the costs for litigants and to provide local access to the court system.

The proposed extension of jurisdiction should be particularly helpful in non-contentious divorce cases, where many issues will have already been agreed between the parties to the case before they go into court and what remains is the granting of the decree of divorce by the court.

The Family Courts Bill provides for the Family District Court to have jurisdiction in a wider range of family law proceedings than is currently provided for in family justice legislation. It is proposed that the Family District Court will have jurisdiction concurrently with the Family Circuit Court and Family High Court in judicial separation, divorce and dissolution of civil partnership proceedings, as well as cases taken by qualified cohabitants.

The Bill is progressing through the Houses of the Oireachtas and it is my aim that it will be enacted as soon as possible.

As regards the current legislative position regarding divorce proceedings, section 20 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 sets out a list of factors and circumstances that must be taken into account by a court dealing with an application for a decree of divorce when the court is deciding on orders in areas such as maintenance, property, pensions, periodical payments, lump sums and financial compensation, to ensure that proper provision exists or will be made for the spouses and any dependent member of the family concerned.

The list of factors to be taken into account includes any contribution made by either spouse by looking after the home or caring for the family, and also include the effect on the earning capacity of each of the spouses of the marital responsibilities assumed by each during the period when they lived with one another and, in particular, the degree to which the future earning capacity of a spouse is impaired by reason of that spouse having relinquished or foregone the opportunity of remunerative activity in order to look after the home or care for the family.

These provisions of the 1996 Act, as well as the legislation relating to maintenance, are worded in gender-neutral terms and do not contain an assumption that the mother of a child is the primary caregiver. It should be noted that the provisions apply to same-sex couples in the same way as they apply to opposite-sex couples.

The Deputy will be aware that Article 42A.4 of the Constitution requires that provision be made by law that in the resolution of all proceedings concerning the guardianship or custody of, or access to, any child, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration. Section 3 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 provides that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration for the court in any proceedings where guardianship, custody or upbringing of, or access to, a child is in question. Section 31 of the 1964 Act, as inserted by the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, sets out a wide range of factors that the court is required to take into account when determining the best interests of the child in such proceedings. These factors are worded in gender-neutral terms and do not contain an assumption that the mother of a child is the primary caregiver.

Married parents of a child are automatically joint guardians and have joint custody of their children. Where married parents separate or divorce, they can decide between themselves on custody arrangements for their children or apply to the courts to decide on the matter.

Section 11 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 provides that either parent of a child may apply to court for a direction regarding the custody of a child or the right of access to the child.

As you will be aware, the Minister of the day has no role in the making of court orders in relation to divorce, custody, access or maintenance. This is a function of the courts, which are, subject to the Constitution and the law, independent in the performance of their judicial functions.