In recent months, the newly-established Child and Family Agency brought an application against The Irish Times to exclude them from a court hearing involving a particular childcare case. The Agency, along with several other parties, sought to exclude all media from the case. The District Court judge rejected the Child and Family Agency’s application, stating that it would not be proportionate to exclude the media. Though the judge did reject the Agency’s application, he did say that it would not be in the best interest of the child to report on the case “contemporaneously”.

Click here to read an article in The Irish Times about the case.

Journalists and those in the media have welcomed the relaxing of the in camera rule, arguing that a greater knowledge of the administration of the law in these areas is in the public interest. However, this case has shown that there is a need to strike an appropriate balance between transparency in the area of family law, and the family’s right to privacy.

The introduction of the Act has provided a platform for an insight into the administration of family law which will pave the way for possible reforms. Dr Carol Coulter’s Child Care Law Reporting Project publishes reports of actual cases and examines child care proceedings in the courts.

Click here to visit the Childcare Law Reporting Project website.