Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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824. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his views on issues that have been noted within the family court system (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47865/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is fully committed to reforming the family justice system in Ireland and as part of the Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025, which was published in November 2022. This ambitious Strategy outlines the steps needed to create a more efficient and user-friendly family justice system that puts the family and children at the centre of its work. This will be achieved through the implementation of over 50 actions across nine goals.

Various actions in the Strategy have already been completed, including the publication of a wide-ranging review into the role of expert reports in the family law process on 13 June 2024. While admission and consideration of evidence in any case is a matter for the judiciary who are independent, the Review sets out 20 ambitious recommendations for reform, the implementation of which will, amongst other things, promote consistency and common standards in hearing the voice of the child and safeguarding their best interests. They include:

• produce guidelines on the commissioning, content and use of expert reports;
• establish a panel of assessors to provide expert reports with a structure to oversee its management;
• establish the role of Children’s Court Advocate, initially on a pilot basis, to assist children in having their voice heard in private family law proceedings.