Childcare law project due to be established by April after funding secured

Report found the situation has deteriorated for children in the care system in the past three years.

A new childcare law reporting project is expected to be established by April, after two expressions of interest have been received by the Department of Children.

A law reporting project on childcare proceedings had been in existence since 2013, and its most recent three-year grant expired in October.

However, it is understood the Child Law Project’s presence in courts for hearing on childcare cases ended in early June as no funding had been committed to the project.

Some €416,000 in funding for two years has been committed to by the Government for the project.

A spokesman for the Department of Children confirmed two expressions of interest have now been received by the department, and proposals are now being drawn up for assessment.

It is understood the deadline for the submission of proposals is February 28.

Last November, the final report from the Child Law Project, called 'Falling Through the Cracks: An Analysis of Child Care Proceedings from 2021 to 2024', analysed more than 340 childcare cases across the country.

The report found while the project had been in existence for 12 years, the situation has deteriorated for children in the care system in the past three years.

Earlier this month, the Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, told the r the delay in commissioning a new iteration of the reporting project “has resulted in an interruption in the oversight and transparency in childcare proceedings in court over the past number of months".

The procurement process for the continuation of the project commenced in October. However, an expression of interest was sent to eligible organisations, inviting them to submit proposals for a two-year reporting and research project focused on childcare proceedings.

The project had been due to commence in January but could not get under way because no proposal documents had been received by a December closing date, although three expressions of interest had been received.