Report calls for introduction of Family Court as soon as possible

A new report has said a Family Court, to handle child care orders, is needed as soon as possible.

That is according to the Director of the Child Care Reporting Project, Carol Coulter - who has said the cases are not given the “attention they need or deserve” in most Irish courts.

The Project’s Second Interim Report has examined 486 cases from September of last year until July 2014 - involving a total of 864 children.

It has found that nearly one in three of the children involved had special needs; while one in four cases involved a parent from an ethnic minority and 90% of parents were unmarried.

You can read the report in full here.