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Child upkeep calculator to reduce friction – minister

An overhaul of Ireland’s family law system was set out by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan at the fifth Family Justice Development Forum (19 January).

The minister set out the implementation plan for the Family Courts Act 2024.

Rather than a sudden national change, the new family courts will be established in selected locations first, starting in January 2027, he said.

Specialist training

Judges will be assigned to Family Court divisions on a full-time basis and will have specialist training or specific experience in family law, moving away from the traditional model where generalist judges handle sensitive domestic cases.

Judges will be assigned to family court divisions on a full-time basis and will have specialist training or specific experience in family law, moving away from the traditional model where generalist judges handle sensitive domestic cases.

The minister said that these courts must be "user-friendly and less costly," and place children’s needs at the heart of proceedings.

Financial Fairness: Child Maintenance Guidelines

Minister O’Callaghan launched Ireland’s first-ever set of child maintenance guidelines, aiming to eliminate the inconsistency and conflict about financial support.

The guidelines are a logical framework for calculating payments based on international best practices, he said.

A digital child maintenance calculator will allow parents to determine fair arrangements without necessarily needing a contested court hearing.

“I think this is a real benefit to litigants before family law courts, in terms of the calculation of child maintenance arrangements,” the minister said.

The guidelines follow a review of enforcement orders in 2024 and a public consultation in 2025.

Voice of the child

The Minister detailed several initiatives designed to ensure children are heard in private family law cases:

• A new pilot project will be established in Waterford and Clonmel to test innovative ways of hearing children's voices. This will undergo a formal evaluation to assess its effectiveness,
• Guidelines and templates for voice of the child reports will be published shortly,
• A new template is being developed to help parents agree on arrangements that serve the best interests of their children following a separation or divorce.

To address concerns regarding the ‘in camera’ (private) rule, the minister announced the Private Family Law Reporting Project.

The goal is to inform the public about how judges make decisions while strictly maintaining the privacy and anonymity of the families involved.

“The aim is to be more transparent with the public about what happens in private family law proceedings and how and why judges make certain decisions," he said.

Best outcomes

The minister reiterated that the best outcomes for families are reached through agreement rather than court-imposed orders.

He said that promoting alternative dispute resolution (ADR), such as mediation, is a guiding principle of the new act.

The Family Justice Training Group is currently researching minimum standards and identifying training gaps for all professionals working within the family justice sector, he added.