Guardianship of Infants and Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-24
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Garret Kelleher (FG), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I dtosach báire, cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire, an Teachta O’Callaghan, as ucht teacht isteach arís chun déileáil leis an mBille. Is céim thábhachtach í an Bille seo chun ár ndlíthe a bhaineann le cosaint leanaí a neartú, go háirithe i gcásanna foréigean baile nó foréigean teaghlaigh ina ndúnmharaíonn tuismitheoir amháin an tuismitheoir eile agus na himpleachtaí atá aige seo ar chearta an tuismitheora sin a mhaireann maidir le caomhnóireacht na leanaí a mhaireann.
They had an argument, she went out to buy groceries while he said he had a few drinks. When she came home later he murdered her and then abandoned the children.
These are the words spoken by David French in relation to the brutal murder of his sister, Valerie, by her husband, James Kilroy, in 2019. As the Minister stated, Mr. Kilroy still retains all guardianship rights over his and Valerie's three children. Like the Minister and other Senators, I welcome David and his sister Veronica to the Visitors Gallery. I acknowledge the huge amount of work David and his family have done over the past seven years in campaigning for the law to be changed to improve safeguards and protections for Irish children and families.
I welcome the Bill for the reasons outlined in detail by the Minister. It is an important step forward in the area of child protection and is the legislative follow-up to the commitment made in the programme for Government. It is right the conviction of a person in our courts for the murder of their partner, their fellow parent or the guardian of their children should automatically preclude that person from full guardianship rights of the surviving children. The safeguarding and protection of surviving children must always supersede all other considerations. We welcome the promotion and safeguarding of the best interests of the child through the statutory scheme, which requires the expertise of Tusla - the Child and Family Agency in child protection and welfare, as the Minister outlined. The passage of this legislation will ensure future cases of this nature will be regarded as child protection and welfare issues and not as matters of private law.
On behalf of the Fine Gael group, I commend the Minister, the Joint Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and all involved in the drafting of this legislation, which has our full support.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-24