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NEW LEGISLATION IS to be introduced that will allow press access to family law and child care proceedings in court.
The Department of Justice said today that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter “intends to progress the preparation and enactment of legislation which amongst other matters will make court proceedings in family law and child care cases more transparent”.
The legislation will amend the in camera rule to allow press access to the courts in family law and child care proceedings. They will be subject to a strict prohibition on the publication of any material which would lead to the identification of the people involved, and care will be taken to ensure that the best interests of children are protected.
The purpose of the in camera rule is to protect the privacy of the parties concerned and to ensure that their anonymity and that of their children is fully preserved.
However, the department said that it has meant that such cases “are not generally reported and the public, and even practitioners may not be aware of how the law, particularly in relation to children, is being operated and applied in the different courts, before which such issues are heard”.
There is a public perception that undue secrecy is attached to the administration of this area of the law and that there is a lack of uniformity and consistency in the manner in which it is administered.
It is part of the Programme for Government that there be reform in the area of family law and this is one of a number of reforms under preparation.
In July of 2012, the Minister announced that the Government approved in principle a future referendum on Article 34 of the Constitution, which envisages, amongst other reforms the establishment of a unified structure of family courts to hear and determine family law disputes and child care cases.
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If a pre school is short 1 plaster in a box of 10,thats an automatic fail in 1st aid compliance on the report,the current report will just say 1st aid fail,it does say its because its short of a plaster. Thats hardly fair,i hope the new reports actuly report the proper issues discovered in pre schools that are not up to proper standards. Will the new laws assist the low paid staff with proper working hours,pay and entitlements ??
Couldn’t agree more. I personally know of a case where the preschool inspector complained there were too many varieties of plasters & dressings. All the new regulations will not prevent nasty people who don’t like children been mean to them like we saw on the Prime Time programme.
New legislation is all well & good. Maintaining appropriate carer:child ratios, training staff properly & paying them a credible wage is more paramount, imo…
Perhaps some regulation for childminders too, who look after children in their own home. I have come across many wonderful childminders who treat the children they look after impeccably, however they are not all the same. This is a largely unregulated area and I feel there should be some sort of inspections/reports similar to the UK.
No one cares for a
Child better that his or her parent but unfortunately during the credit tiger we lost the run of ourselves and required 2
Parents working to support ridiculous mortgages and the introduction of the chain crèche with high running costs etc
The whole country needs an overhaul not just childcare and plenty of crèche’s who pay staff fairly and treat children well they are just harder to find because the pull of the larger crèche with the so called reputation is a greater pull ….inspectors need to inspect what’s really important not tick a flip board actually sit in the crèche for few days to observe properly
Creche or preschool?
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