Justice minister to address the naming of child murder victims

Justice Minister Helen McEntee is bringing a memo to Cabinet today to address the ban on naming child victims.

Justice minister Helen McEntee will bring a memo to Cabinet today to address a ban on naming a child murder victim once someone has been charged with the offence.

The Court of Appeal ruled last October that the Children Act 2001, preventing the identification of a child where someone is charged with an offence against them, did not exclude a deceased child.

The ruling has been called "absurd" and last week the mother of a murdered boy pleaded with Ms McEntee to address the issue. 

She told reporters after a man had been convicted of the murder that "his legacy deserves to be out there for all the world to see and hear".

Ms McEntee will take a memo to Cabinet on the issue today, with sources saying that she is "acutely conscious of the pain and difficulty this is causing so many people, including parents who want to remember their children and preserve the legacy of their children". 

The minister is understood to believe that the quickest way to fix the anomaly is to support independent senator Michael McDowell's Seanad private member's bill and to make amendments at committee stage rather than putting forward a Government bill.

Mr McDowell's bill will be taken in Government time in the Seanad next week when amendments will be put forward. 

This will allow the identity of a child to be published in any proceedings involving the death of a child, allowing the identity of a person accused to be published in proceedings involving the death of a child, and the publishing of the identity of an adult victim who was a child at the time of the offence.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan has also put forward a bill, but it is understood that Ms McEntee has met with both he and Mr McDowell and agreement has been reached on the way to address the issue.

Mr O'Callaghan has said that the ruling was "absurd" and never envisaged in the original legislation.

“It was never envisaged that the provision would apply in respect of a child that had been killed and it never applied in that extent,” the Fianna Fáil justice spokesman said.

Up to 2019, there was no such understanding of the application of that provision, and never was it the case that children who had been killed were anonymised once the case came to trial.

He said the decision has caused “significant confusion” among the public when the name of a murdered child is in the news until a person is charged. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he believed it was important to address the issue: 

I think it’s important in terms of, I believe in transparency on issues like that.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet will also be updated today on the latest progress in both Ireland's vaccine rollout and talks to reopen schools. Talks between the Department of Education and stakeholders were ongoing yesterday, with sources saying that they are hopeful an agreement within days.