Guardianship of Infants and Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-30
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

Going back to amendment No. 19 and the second part of it, which is around the request, the Minister said there would be circumstances where giving out the information that might be associated with someone making a request to understand why a case was not being brought forward would potentially put people at risk. Will he outline the procedures provided for under the Bill in that instance? The amendment refers to providing reasons for the decision to the person who made the request. I appreciate what the Minister said, that providing the rationale for any decision to any person who makes a request would be open-ended. Are there changes that could be made to this amendment to provide for instances involving someone with a vested interest in the case? How can we bring transparency to this so that it is not simply a matter of "case closed", with Tusla choosing not to pursue the matter without saying why? Are there ways that process could be strengthened to have more transparency?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-30