Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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143. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to reform the family court system to improve the enforcement of child maintenance orders, including the use of wage attachment mechanisms, in light of ongoing issues with non-payment and inconsistent enforcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34850/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders, completed by officials in my Department, was published on 8 January 2024. It was one of the actions contained in the “Supporting Children” goal of the Family Justice Strategy. The Review made 26 recommendations focused on generating maximum compliance with child maintenance orders, to ensure security and stability for children and to aid poverty prevention.

The recommendations, while mainly focused on strengthening provisions for court enforcement of child maintenance orders, also identified ways to encourage voluntary payment and to assist people to make private arrangements. They focus on improving the way in which maintenance is agreed/ordered, the way in which payment is encouraged, the means by which default can be avoided and greater mechanisms for enforcement.

The key recommendations of the review include:

• Development of a set of child maintenance guidelines.
• Introduction of mandatory mediation information sessions.
• Strengthening attachment of earnings orders and exploring the possibility of attaching an order to a PPS number rather than employing entities, so that orders do not lapse when there is a change in employer.
• Introduction of a single enforcement procedure when the receiving parent makes an enforcement application, allowing the judge to choose the most appropriate enforcement option based on the circumstances of the case.
• Simplification of the bench warrant process.
• Placing the onus on paying parents to pay costs associated with enforcement proceedings.
• Allowing for deductions from social welfare, the paying parent’s bank accounts, from government grants and subsidies and allowing for the recovery of arrears from tax refunds.