Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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411. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to extend Valerie's Law to include domestic violence and coercive control. [67700/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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On 1 April 2025, I secured Government approval for the referral of the Scheme of the Guardianship of Infants (Amendment) Bill 2025 and for its formal drafting, once pre-legislative scrutiny was complete.

The Bill, was referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration for pre-legislative scrutiny on 19 May, and on the 24 September the Committee published its report and made 30 recommendations. Drafting of this Bill is ongoing between the Department and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and it is on the priority list for publication in this session.

The proposed legislation will deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to “examine proposals to remove guardianship rights from those convicted of killing their partners or a parent of their child”. It upholds a principle that those convicted of the most serious crimes should not retain automatic legal authority over the children they have left behind. The proposal to legislate is also part of ongoing work to implement appropriate recommendations from the Study on Familicide and Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews.

The Bill seeks to address the particular situation where a guardian has been killed or incapacitated by another guardian of the child - the result may be that the convicted guardian is the only effective guardian of the child. This situation is distinct from situations where a guardian may have committed offences against another guardian, but that guardian is not killed or incapacitated as result.