Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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300. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of the Child Law Reporting Project; the annual cost of the project; to confirm that the necessary resources will remain in place to support this essential project into the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42285/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Child care proceedings ordinarily occur otherwise than in public, and court reporting has an important role in highlighting for policy makers those issues that may impact on children as they arise in these proceedings. My Department renews the court reporting project periodically through a competitive tender process. The current iteration of court reporting began in November 2021 and will expire on 31 October 2024, over which period my Department will have provided funding to a total of €0.6m. The current project is being delivered by the Child Law Project (CLP).

In accordance with the funding agreement and work plan under this iteration of the project, the CLP ceased attending proceedings in June of 2024 and published a final volume of court reports in relation to this period on 8th July. A final analytical report for this phase of reporting is due for publication on the 4th of November. I wish to acknowledge the importance of the work undertaken by the CLP over the past three years.

I have previously confirmed that funding will be made available for a future iteration of the court reporting project. As part of the Estimates 2025 process, an allocation of €200,000 has been secured in the budget for court reporting next year.

The Government is committed to supporting the provision of high quality and safe services to children in care, which will help them to reach their full potential, and reporting on child care proceedings assists in this regard by providing evidence to inform policy and implementation. It is the intention of my Department that a new tender will issue for another phase of reporting.