Amendment No. 1 proposes to insert in section 35E(1) that a function of a guardian ad litem shall be "to represent the child’s interests in the proceedings to which the guardian ad litem has been appointed". There are serious concerns in respect of a guardian ad litem , GAL, potentially being relegated to the status of a witness. That leads me on to amendment No. 2, which proposes to delete section 35E(8) and replace it with, "The court may hear from the guardian ad litem in respect of any welfare matter concerning the child." There is a concern that if a GAL is characterised as a witness, it dilutes their role.
This means the court can specify that a GAL can have party-type rights and what those party-type rights are. In terms of amendment No. 2 and the issue of the witness and this idea that the guardian ad litem would be relegated to the status of the witness, that is not our intention.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 1,224 words from 5 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Kathleen Funchion and Sean Sherlock; Níl, Deputies Jack Chambers and Brendan Griffin.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment put: | Lost | 58–70 |
| Amendment put: | Carried | 72–59 |
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