The long-awaited Bill providing for an Ombudsman for Children will be published before Christmas, The Irish Times has learned.
It is currently with the parliamentary draughts-people, according to a spokesman for the Department of Health and Children, and will soon be ready for publication.
The Bill is likely to provide for procedures for appointing the Ombudsman and his or her term of office, along with staffing and resourcing the office. Such a body would oversee the provision of services for children, and ensure their interests were upheld in a variety of public arenas, including the courts.
The legislation was promised more than two years ago when the then Minister of State with responsibility for children, Mr Frank Fahey, said the Office of Ombudsman for Children was likely to be a reality in the year 2000. Ms Mary Hanafin has replaced him.
Pressure for such an office has come from various lawyers and campaigners for children's rights. In 1998 the UN Committee on the Rights of the child called for such a body, saying there was no comprehensive national policy on childcare.
It was also concerned about the lack of guarantees for the child to maintain contact with both parents after divorce and separation. This has become a more urgent issue as the number of divorces rises steadily, with the number of legal separations remaining steady, giving an overall increase every year in the number of children whose parents are separated.
Mr Geoffrey Shannon, lecturer in the Law Society's school and a member of the society's family law committee, told The Irish Times that an Ombudsman for Children could help resolve many of the disputes concerning custody and access, and take them out of the adversarial court arena.
The setting up of such an office has had a chequered history. It was first announced in December 1996 by the then minister, Mr Austin Currie, but was scrapped by Mr Fahey when the Fianna Fβil-PD coalition came to power, only to be reinstated later and promised for the end of 1999.
However, the promised legislation never materialised. It is now in the Attorney General's office with the parliamentary draughts-people, and is promised for the end of this year.