Guardianship of Infants and Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-24
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Noel O'Donovan (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I too welcome David and Veronica to the Gallery on what is an important and emotional day for the French family. As someone who comes from west Cork, I am not too far from Leap. The French family has had widespread support from the people of west Cork in their campaign since the brutal murder of their sister. I genuinely thank the Minister for his work on this Bill. I know that David, whom I have met on a number of occasions, expresses deep gratitude for the Minister’s work on this. I acknowledge that.
There is further work to be done in this area, as the Minister knows well, in terms of other legislation. There are other advocates who see other parts of legislation that need to be worked on. The job cannot stop today. I welcome this, however. I pay particular credit to the French family for enduring what they had to do during the criminal process and continuing their campaign to bring today about.
I commend An Garda Síochána on its work in the area of domestic and sexual violence and the progression it has made in recent years. I worked closely with the protective services unit in Wexford dealing with victims and I can see real progression in this regard. The Minister knows that, as an organisation, it has progressed. The French family would have received deep support from the family liaison unit in An Garda Síochána as well, and that must be recognised.
As a State, at times, our organs and institutions can be slow to move but this is good politics today. The Bill has cross-party and broad support. There is further work to be done in other areas, however. I genuinely thank the Minister for his personal work on this and for the help and support he gave to the French family. We will continue our work, as legislators, to ensure that victims of crime and their families are supported and that those who commit crimes are dealt with properly by the organs and institutions of our State.

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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