merrion street

Thursday, 4th April 2013

Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children & Youth Affairs has today welcomed the launch of the new website of the Child Care Law Reporting Project – www.childlawproject.ie

The Child Care Law Reporting Project was established in 2012 with the active support of the Department of Children & Youth Affairs; and operates under regulations made by Minister Fitzgerald in November 2012.

The project which is led by Dr. Carol Coulter provides anonymised reports on in-camera court proceedings relating to the Child Care Act and in the area of family law. Dr. Coulter has been assisted in her work by Lisa Colfer and Kevin Healy BL.

The website launched today included the first 30 reports of cases observed and examined by the Project.

Minister Fitzgerald commended Dr. Coulter and her colleagues on the important and innovative work of the Child Care Law Reporting Project

The Minister added that “every year in Ireland we have over 1,500 confirmed reports of abuse and serious neglect of children. The reports published today on this new website will help illuminate the dark every-day reality of child abuse and neglect in Ireland.

“The courts play a vitally important role in the child protection and welfare system and the decisions of Judges have significant implications for service provision and children’s outcomes. I am delighted that for the first time we can now access quality reports on the workings of these courts and on matters such as statistical trends and different approaches adopted in different court areas.

“I look forward to the Project’s first interim report which is due later this year. I believe the findings of the Project will greatly inform policy development and decision-making by Government as we continue to work to transform Ireland’s child and family services.”