Family Justice Development Forum Speech 19 January 2026 Minister Jim O’Callaghan

Introduction

You’re all very welcome and I want to thank Doncha for his kind comments. I’m very pleased to be here for what is, as Doncha said, the fifth session of the Family Justice Development Forum. In fact, it is the second session for me and I know from the previous one a number of months ago that these are very useful and effective mechanisms for us to get feedback in terms of what you the vital stakeholders in the area of Family Justice want to say, but also in terms of the Family Justice strategy.

Can I just start by acknowledging the excellent work that’s being contributed by Liam Coen of this Department for his excellent work over the past five years. As you know Liam has been leading our programme of Family Justice Reform, and I want to thank him for his excellent work over those years and in particular during the time when I’ve been Minister.

As you know, Liam has recently moved to a new role within the Criminal Policy Section or Criminal Governance Section within the Department, however I’m very pleased to have him here today and for his role as MC later today. I want to thank him on my behalf and on your behalf for the outstanding work he has contributed over the years.

And obviously as somebody moves on in the Department of Justice, it’s a bit like Ministers for Justice, there’s always somebody there to fill the new role and I want to welcome Deirdre McCaughey, who has taken up the reigns from Liam, and I really wish Deirdre well and I want you to give her your support in the time ahead as she’s filling this very valuable role.

Can I also say to you that, as I said previously, as my priority as Minister for Justice in the area of the administration of Civil Justice, is to ensure that people can access a Justice system that is efficient, that is effective and that is fair. I think when you look at the level of access that people have to the Civil Courts in Ireland, Family Law is of huge importance because it probably is the most frequent occasion when individuals access the civil legal system in Ireland and my objective is to ensure that those who seek access to justice can gain access to justice, effectively, efficiently and fairly.

A large proportion of Civil Justice proceedings as you know relate to family law and it really is essential that we continue to reform Family Law to ensure that is has in its exclusive focus, the interests of the litigants before the courts and indeed the children.

Implementation of each of the nine goals and over 50 actions contained within the Family Justice Strategy is well under way and already making a significant contribution to ongoing improvements of our family justice system.

I want to say to you that it’s a genuine privilege to facilitate this event where my officials and I can share updates with you as the people directly involved in the Family Justice area.

Progress of Family Justice reforms since the last Forum

I’m also very proud of the fact that there’s been tangible progress made in delivering on some key reforms since the last Forum.

Today, I am publishing Ireland’s first set of Child Maintenance Guidelines. These guidelines aim to improve fairness, consistency and transparency - and to reduce conflict – when parents are making child maintenance arrangements.

I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to read through the child maintenance guidelines, I want to thank Indecon for their involvement in the preparation of them and I think they will be of real assistance to the parties who find themselves before the Family Law Courts and indeed the judiciary in terms of having guidelines that can be of assistance in determining how much child maintenance should be paid.

The guidelines themselves, they set out what I think is a very clear and logical basis for the calculation of child maintenance payments. It bases it very much on International Review of how it operates in other countries and you can see when you look at page twenty-two of the guidelines that the process for calculation of the child maintenance payments is very logical, it’s very clear and I’m hopeful that this will result in there being less contested hearings in respect of how much a child maintenance payment should be because if people can accept the guidelines I think that will cut down the amount of time that has to be spent in terms of calculating child maintenance guidelines. Obviously, there will still be the issue of ensuring that maintenance is paid but that is a separate issue. I think this is a real benefit to litigants before Family Law Courts, in terms of the calculation of child maintenance arrangements.

Also accompanying the guidelines I’ll be launching shortly what’s an innovative new online Child Maintenance Calculator, which will help to make the guidelines accessible for parents. The guidelines and the accompany calculator were a key recommendation of the 2024 review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders. I’m very grateful to the members of the child maintenance guidelines committee who gave their time to this project. The final guidelines were informed by a public consultation in April 2025. I want to thank those of you here today who were members of the guidelines committee and those who contributed to the consultation by completing the survey.

I am also very pleased to announce in the coming weeks that I will be publishing an implementation plan for the Family Courts Act, 2024. As you know, it is a key priority for me and for the Government to ensure that the family courts are more user-friendly, less costly and place the needs of children at the centre of family law proceedings.

The plan will provide for a phased commencement of the Act, bringing the family courts into operation in selected locations over a series of stages before a full national roll-out.

And as you'll be aware, section one of the act provides a respective commencement, that different circuits of different districts can be commenced on a stage basis, and that is something that I intend to do, and something that the Oireachtas in a way, instructed me to do as a result of the commencement provision.

My officials and the court service will commence work immediately to establish the first family law courts in January 2027.

In October 2024, my department established a voice of the child working group with membership comprising both statutory and voluntary stakeholders in the family justice system.

The group was taking forward some of the recommendations in the review of expert reports, including the development of the children's court advocate pilot project, and the development of a voice of the child report, template, and guidelines.

I'm very pleased to say we will shortly establish the children's court advocate pilot project in two locations, Waterford and Clonmel.

The pilot will test a new way of hearing the voice of children in private family law cases.

Running alongside the pilot project will be a comprehensive evaluation to assess its effectiveness in achieving its aim of improving how the voice of the child is heard and considered in private family law proceedings.

A tender for this evaluation is now being published by this department and will be open until 4 February 2026.

The aim of the voice of the Child Report, templating guidelines, is to ensure consistency of approach by experts, in supporting children, to have their voices heard.

The working group has made significant progress on drafting the templates and guidance, and we expect them to be published in the coming months.

Our Family Justice team was also working on a parenting plan template, which, when published, will be a tool parents can use, to help them, to come to agreements about what's best for their children after a separation or divorce.

I want to thank those of you in the room will give your time to review the template.

I'm also pleased that my department has awarded the tender for a Private Family Law Reporting Project, to the Child Law Project, led by Dr. Carol Coulter, and I welcome Carol here this morning, to be delivered over the next three years.

Currently, there's no comprehensive system in Ireland for regularly and systematically reporting on private family law proceedings.

This important project will help build public confidence and address some of the concerns people have regarding the in camera rule, while, at the same time, safeguarding the privacy of those proceedings.

The aim is to be more transparent with the public about what happens in private family law proceedings and how and why judges make certain decisions.

In terms of further developing policy in this area, the outcome of the project will be extremely useful.

Finally, I am pleased to share that a dedicated Family Justice Service page is now live on a new service directory website (Dublin CYPSC).

This dedicated page brings together a clear list of services and supports for families and professionals in one easy-to-navigate place.

Moving on to today’s agenda, Louise O’Meara of our Civil Governance team will shortly update you on work completed to date to develop the Implementation Plan for the Family Courts Act 2024. This legislation, as you know, is a large component of the Family Justice Strategy.

A key aspect of this legislation is that it provides for judges to be assigned to the Family Courts divisions on a full-time basis who have specialist training or experience in dealing with family law matters. The revisions of the Act will also lead to improved levels of judicial expertise and training in family law matters.

Judicial training in family justice matters will be the key focus of the second part of today’s forum. Maria Fitzgerald, Associate Director of Judicial Studies at the Judicial Council, will give us an overview of judicial training and education.

Neasa Peters of the Department’s Civil Policy team will update us on the work of the Family Justice Training Group, which was established in 2024 under Goal 5 of the Family Justice Strategy, that of People Development.

The group’s remit is to:

• research the minimum standards and recommended training for professions working in family justice;
• identify training gaps and related professional development opportunities; and
• engage with the relevant educational and professional bodies to review existing training needs, develop and implement training across professions in core family justice areas.

I also want to ensure that we continue to promote mediation as a mechanism of resolving disputes.

The best form of resolution for individuals or litigants before the courts is for an agreement to be reached rather than having a court-imposed agreement put on them.

Promoting the use of alternative dispute resolution methods, such as mediation, to resolve family disputes, in so far as is possible and appropriate, is also one of the guiding principles of the Family Courts Act.

Fiona McAuslan, Director of the Legal Aid Board’s Family Mediation Service, will explore how resolution processes for families have developed in its 40-year history and how they will continue to evolve into the future.

Conclusion

So, I want to thank you all again for your attendance today.

I know you will be watching closely the progress I am making in bringing forward what is an ambitious programme of family justice reforms. I want you to know that I'm committed to making substantial progress.

I’m aware of the great work that is being done in this department and by my predecessors and the contribution all of you in the room have made in terms of ensuring that the Family Justice Strategy is implemented and it is my responsibility with your support to do so. So, thank you very much.