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Minister McEntee Publishes Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders
Minister McEntee Publishes Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, TD, today published the Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders.
The review, carried out to examine how the current system can be improved, contains 26 recommendations, spanning three different approaches, those of consensus, compliance and deterrence.
Commenting on its publication, Minister McEntee said:
“Non-payment of child maintenance is a common problem and the current enforcement options available are limited in scope and impact.
This is clearly unacceptable, given the critical source of income which it can represent. That is why, working with Minister Humphreys, I am determined to take action in this area to ensure that every child is properly supported.”
Referring to the content of the review, she continued:
“These recommendations are designed to deliver maximum compliance with child maintenance orders, and that is why I intend to commence the implementation process immediately. That will involve establishing an interdepartmental group to develop a set of child maintenance guidelines and I will do that without delay.
At a later point, I will seek government approval for other recommendations which will require legislative change to ensure I do everything I can to ensure security and stability for children.
My colleague Minister Humphreys is also looking at what actions she can take and I welcome her intention to bring forward measures in the near future which will also help alleviate the risk of poverty for families in this situation.”
Minister Humphreys added:
“I very much welcome these steps taken by Minister McEntee, which are designed to make our Child Maintenance System fairer and more effective.
Child Maintenance payments are essential in ensuring security and stability for children and protecting the welfare of families.
My own Department of Social Protection plays a key role in this regard and very shortly I will be announcing the legislative measures I am introducing to decouple social welfare from our Child Maintenance System in line with the recommendations of the Child Maintenance Review Group.”
The key recommendations of the review include:
• Development of a set of child maintenance guidelines.
• Strengthening attachment of earnings orders and exploring the possibility of attaching an order to a PPS number rather than employing entities, so that orders do not lapse when there is a change in employer.
• Introduction of a single enforcement procedure when the receiving parent makes an enforcement application, allowing the judge to choose the most appropriate enforcement option based on the circumstances of the case.
• Simplification of the bench warrant process.
• Placing the onus on paying parents to pay costs associated with enforcement proceedings.
• Allowing deductions from the paying parent’s bank accounts, from government grants and subsidies and the recovery of arrears from tax refunds.
Making the point that the review has its place in the Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025 - that of ‘supporting children’, Minister McEntee continued:
“I am aware that many parents make private child maintenance arrangements.
However, there will always be circumstances in which private arrangements either break down or are not possible.
In these circumstances, the courts are tasked with safeguarding the financial welfare of children and it is my firm intention that this review, along with the changes being progressed through the Family Justice Strategy will lead to a family justice system that is effective, efficient and that provides real justice.”
A copy of the Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders can be accessed at: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/de4f9-review-of-the-enforcement-of-child-maintenance-orders/
The review was led by the Department’s Civil Policy Unit, building on the previous work and report of the Child Maintenance Review Group,
Interviews were carried out with members of the Family Justice Implementation Group – including the Courts Service, the Legal Aid Board and members of the Judiciary, and additionally a number of District Court judges working in the area of family law were also interviewed.
The review also involved a comparative analysis of child maintenance enforcement in seven jurisdictions.
Full list of recommendations
The review proposes a number of recommendations, which are grouped under three approaches – the deterrence based approach, the compliance based approach and the consensus based approach.
The recommendations for reform seek to span across these three approaches in order to generate maximum compliance with child maintenance orders, to ensure security and stability for children and to aid poverty prevention.
A. Consensus based approach
1. A committee involving the Departments of Justice, CEDIY and Social Protection should be established to develop a set of child maintenance guidelines.
2. Develop a child maintenance calculator, stemming from the guidelines to allow the public or a paying parent to quickly understand what the appropriate child maintenance amount will be.
3. Publish child maintenance figures to enhance transparency and to promote greater consistency in the child maintenance amounts awarded by the judiciary.
4. Introduce mandatory mediation information sessions to encourage voluntary maintenance agreements.
5. Run an awareness campaign highlighting the importance of paying child maintenance and promoting a ‘culture of paying’.
B. Compliance based approach
1. Develop an online portal that sends warning emails and texts for missed or late maintenance payments.
2. Strengthen attachment of earnings orders, including making an order mandatory following default. The possibility of linking attachment of earnings orders to the paying parents PPSN so it automatically follows if there is a change in employment should be explored with the Department of Social Protection.
3. Allow for deduction from Social Welfare payments. This recommendation should be explored with the Department of Social Protection.
4. Introduce an information sharing agreement between Revenue, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Agriculture and the Courts Service.
5. Allow for third party discovery in child maintenance cases and to order banks/financial institutions to disclose account details of the parties.
6. Consolidate and simplify child maintenance legislation.
C. Deterrence based approach
1. Introduce a single enforcement procedure where the receiving parent makes an application and the judge can choose the most appropriate enforcement option based on the circumstances of the case.
2. Paying parents should pay costs associated with enforcement proceedings.
3. Allow for regular or lump sum deductions from the paying parent’s bank accounts.
4. Allow for freezing of money and assets.
5. Allow for a charge on property so it cannot be sold or re-mortgaged without the payment of arrears being satisfied.
6. Explore the possibility of use of the Sheriff’s office for enforcement of judgments.
7. Allow for recovery of arrears from tax refunds.
8. Allow for deductions from government grants and subsidies.
9. Provide for no statute of limitations on maintenance arrears.
10. Allow for arears to be paid from paying parent’s estate.
11. Reform the Bench Warrant process by: (a) when a bench warrant is issued, it should state that, where possible, the subject of the bench warrant should be brought before the correct court on a particular date for the next family law sitting. The receiving parent should also be instructed to attend on this date; and, (b) bail should be introduced in family law proceedings where a Bench Warrant is issued.
12. Give the Circuit Court the power to regard a failure to pay maintenance as contempt of court.
13. Explore the possibility of suspended sentences for non-payment of child maintenance.
Additional recommendations:
(a) The Courts Service should provide for addresses to be redacted in child maintenance proceedings where there is a history of domestic abuse.
(b) The default position that payment shall be made through the District Court clerk should be removed from the legislation.