Family Law Transparency, Child Welfare, and Reform of the In Camera Rule: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I would like to bring up a very specific issue that was raised with us at the autism parliamentary group yesterday. I will not go into the complete detail, but it is about real failings that surround child protection and child welfare. This relates to the most vulnerable children who do not have a voice, namely, those who are non-verbal. In the near future people will hear about - and we will deal with - failings in the criminal justice system. Training and guidelines are required for the Garda. Agencies must ensure we have the necessary child welfare protections. At this point in time we are absolutely falling down. As Deputy Kerrane says, it is utterly crazy that at the same time the Government is going to undermine the independence of the guardian ad litem , the voice of those most vulnerable of children in court settings who in many cases have been failed for far too long. We need to have at least somebody there who is not in the employment or under the direction of a Minister or Department and has an element of freedom to represent the child. That should be the sole focus.
Like Deputy Mark Ward, I commend the work of "RTÉ Investigates" in relation to the brutal case of Max. He was subject to a special emergency arrangement in a hotel and went missing for two and a half hours. He was sleeping in a car park open to all sorts and abused within that setting. I accept we are talking about very complex cases but we are also talking about cases that have been made more complex by the lack of early intervention. The State is paying something like €2,000 per child per week to unregistered, unregulated SEAs. Last year there were 170 SEAs. There are now 70. It is still too many but that is an improvement. I also hear from Tusla front-line staff that SEAs cannot be operated at the moment, understandably so.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29