Social Democrats children spokesperson Aidan Farrelly has written to Minister for Children Norma Foley asking to immediately defer the Committee stage consideration of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2025, as the government\u2019s own amendments will not be ready in time to be debated.<\/p>\n
Deputy Farrelly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cTD\u2019s are elected, first and foremost, to legislate. How are we expected to debate and scrutinise government legislation if they are not ready with their own amendments come committee stage?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be ludicrous to proceed to debate this legislation without consideration of the government\u2019s planned changes; it is a show of disrespect to members of the Oireachtas if the Minister pushes ahead regardless of the Bill\u2019s readiness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis legislation is crucial and a core component of what will place the National Review Panel on a statutory footing. The Children\u2019s Ombudsman is just one of the offices that has repeatedly called for this development in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cRushing this legislation through in a half-baked state will do more harm than good in the progression of safeguarding children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister\u2019s colleague, Justice Minister Jim O\u2019Callaghan, has just rushed through the International Protection Bill whilst admitting that many more Ministerial amendments will be identified at Seanad and Report stage – this is no way to legislate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinister Foley claimed in December 2025 that amendments to the Bill will enhance the powers and status of the NRP and further strengthen it, but three months later, we have yet to see any text.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many important provisions in this Bill, but to be effective, it must be considered in the round, not partially. For that reason, I have appealed to the Minister to press pause on this process until such a time that the Attorney General, the Department and members of the Oireachtas are in a position to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 18th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats children spokesperson Aidan Farrelly has written to Minister for Children Norma Foley asking to immediately defer the Committee stage consideration of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2025, as the government\u2019s own amendments will not be ready in time to be debated. Deputy Farrelly said: \u201cTD\u2019s are elected, first and foremost, to legislate. How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,540,7,693],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-children","category-press-release","category-tusla"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n