Ahern targets maintenance loophole

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern is moving to close a legal loophole which has made it impossible to serve enforcement orders on errant fathers who have failed to pay child maintenance.

Since a Supreme Court ruling in June 2009 that changed the legal onus from a debtor having to prove they can’t pay to a creditor needing to provide evidence they can afford to pay, applications for child maintenance enforcement orders have been routinely refused.

New legalisation, the Enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Act, 2009, took account of the Supreme Court ruling but did not amend the issue in family law. This has resulted in the refusal by District Courts to issue child maintenance enforcement orders and dozens of existing notices have been struck out.