A major reform of the family law court system to make it more child friendly has been announced by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.
The Minister, who goes on maternity leave in the next fortnight, also indicated that she would like to stay in her current role in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, to see the reforms through to completion.
"I would love to be able to see them through," she said.
The new legislation will establish family courts at District, Circuit and High Court levels and each will deal with matters appropriate to its jurisdiction.
Judges, professionally trained in this area of law, will be assigned full time to these courts and the courts will have a Principal Judge akin to a court president.
These courts will sit in a different room or building, and the hearings will take place on different days to other court sittings.
The changes are aiming to hear more non-contentious family law matters in the District Court.
Minister McEntee said the legislation would set out guiding principles to make the best interests of children a primary consideration in all family law proceedings.
Meanwhile, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has announced that lone parents would no longer have to include child maintenance payments in any means test for welfare.
The Minister said this would benefit around 16,000 parents.
