In September 2020, the Minister for Justice published the General Scheme of the Family Court Bill which proposes to establish a unified Family Court comprising District, Circuit and Family Court divisions. The Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) warmly welcomes this publication and the objectives set out in the General Scheme. We, along with many others, have long called for the establishment of a unified and specialist family court. We appreciate this opportunity to submit observations to the Joint Committee on Justice on the General Scheme. Our observations are based on the CCLRP’s experience of child protection proceedings and related research; we have confined our observations to Heads of relevance to our work.

P.6 Family Drug and Alcohol Programme

20. Parental addiction is the cause of a significant proportion of children coming into and remaining in care. Many of these parents have the potential with support to overcome their addiction, to be able to parent safely and to be reunited with their children. Ireland has a legal duty to work towards family reunification where this is safe and in the child’s best interest. Consideration should be given to follow international best practice and put in place a family drug and alcohol programme within the Family Court, which in the UK has been shown to reduce significantly the likelihood of children remaining in care. The existing Drug Court only deals with matters falling under criminal law, and a drug and alcohol programme within the Family Court would enable parents who participate on a voluntary basis to have access to addiction and other support services, with oversight of their progress communicated to the court for consideration during the child care proceedings.