Kathleen Funchion Questions GAL Status, Appeals and File Access
Kathleen Funchion spoke about the role and regulation of GALs, welcoming a presumption of appointment while raising procedural concerns. She asked for clarification on appeals, the formal status of GALs, and access to TUSLA files.
Overview of remarks
Kathleen Funchion praised the important work GALs perform and welcomed moves to regulate appointments, but warned against ad hoc arrangements and box-ticking exercises. She said the system must work well in practice for vulnerable children rather than simply being mandatory on paper.
Appeals mechanism questioned
She asked whether an appeals mechanism exists for individuals who believe a GAL should have been appointed but was not, and requested that this point be clarified in the minister's response. She suggested that clarification of any appeals route could be considered at committee stage.
Status of GALs in legislation
Funchion raised concerns about how GALs are classified in the legislation, saying it is important they are described as representatives rather than witnesses. She argued that representative status better reflects that GALs speak for the child and is materially different from the role of a witness in court proceedings.
Access to TUSLA files
She queried whether GALs retain an automatic right to access the full TUSLA file, noting current practice appears to grant them that entitlement and asking whether proposed provisions merely allow application to the court for files or reports. She requested clarification on whether automatic access will continue.
Support for regulation and next steps
Overall, Funchion welcomed the bill progressing after prior discussion and urged clarity on the three key issues - appeals, status, and file access - preferably addressed during committee stage. She stressed the importance of fully regulated arrangements where the child's voice, particularly for vulnerable children, is protected and represented.
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I think it is good, I think you have outlined there the ad hoc nature and I will say the work that GALs do is such an important service, it is such an important work and where it works well, it works really well, but I suppose we have to be always looking at situations where maybe it hadn't been working well or it had been a bit ad hoc. I actually just have a few questions that maybe in your response ministry you can come back to. I do welcome the presumption of an appointment of a GAL, but I am wondering, and I do see the view in relation to a mandatory, like the difficulty potentially for a mandatory situation, and I also would strongly feel that you could easily have a mandatory situation, but it might not actually, if it is not working well and not fit for a purpose and service, there is not really much point to it, it just becomes a tick the box. exercise, so, but is there an appeals mechanism contained if somebody believes, you know, I know that there is a presumption of appointing a GAL, but if somebody believes maybe they should have been appointed one and weren't, is there some sort of an appeals mechanism, maybe you could come back to that in your reply. I suppose the crucial and key thing for myself in all of this situation is the status of the GAL. Now I am open to correction on this, but as I understand it, they are referred to sometimes as witnesses in this legislation, maybe that has been changed, but I think it is important that the language actually is that they are representative, because that is exactly what they are, and they do represent the child's voice, and it is really important that they do that, particularly for vulnerable children. But in general, it is really important, and I think that, you know, we have had like lots of discussions, particularly in the last few days in relation to language and the importance of language, and we were here last night with the adoption and tracing legislation, or the information tracing legislation, I should say, but I do think it is important that they would be referenced as representatives rather than witnesses, and I said I am open to correction on that, because I was on the children's committee in the last time when we discussed this at pre-ledge scrutiny, so I know that there has been some significant changes since then, so I am going to admit that that could be a change that has been made that I am not aware of, so that would be my second question, are they listed as representatives, and if not, can we look at that change in that in committee stage? Because I think it is important that they are not relegated, because I think it is important that they are not relegated to the status of a witness that we know in court proceedings is very different than somebody who is a representative. And the other situation then is in relation to access to the files, as I understand it, at the present time, the GAL is entitled to the full TUSLA file, and I note that there is reference to that they might be able to apply to the court for a file or for a report, but are they not given that as an automatic right, and if not, is that something we could look at changing at committee stage? I suppose the three key concerns are, is there any sort of appeals process if somebody feels they should be appointed to GAL and have not, the status of the GAL in terms of representative versus witness, and then in relation to accessing the full TUSLA file, as I understand that they currently have, maybe that is still going to be the case, and what you are referencing is potential additional information, but maybe you could just clarify those two points when you are coming back in. In general, I have to say, I welcome this, I think it is good, I think it is, you know, as I said, we had it in the last term and it never kind of progressed further, so it is good to see it at this stage, and it is important that it is regulated, because anything to do, I suppose, with the voice of vulnerable children, it is important that we have it 100 per cent kind of above board. So thanks can't quite.... No thank you Deputy Secretary. Thank you. Thank you Deputy.
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