Minister Jim O’Callaghan asks public for their views on the payment of child maintenance to help inform new guidelines
-
From: Department of Justice
- Published on: 7 April 2025
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
The Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has today launched a public survey to help inform the development of new voluntary guidelines related to the payment of child maintenance.
It follows the publication last year of a departmental review into how child maintenance orders are enforced. The Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders recommended the creation of a Committee to develop guidelines in order to help inform parents on how to make private child maintenance arrangements. The Committee is chaired by the Department of Justice and the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is urging the public to share their views through an online survey launched today.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said:
“Child maintenance payments represent a critical source of stability and security for children across the country. All parents, whether they are married, separated, living together, or have never lived together, have an obligation to support their children based on what they can afford."
“Our aim is to design guidelines that are transparent and which parents will find useful and fair. The survey which I am launching is open to anyone living in Ireland and I would encourage all interested parties to complete it and have their say on the key aspects of the guidelines.
“I am particularly keen to hear from parents who have or are seeking child maintenance arrangements, members of the public with an interest in child maintenance, legal professionals, those working with families and academics and researchers with an interest in this area."
The Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders was carried out to examine how the current system can be improved, in line with the Family Justice Strategy’s primary goal of supporting children.
Minister O’Callaghan continued:
“I am committed to reforming the family justice system through the ongoing implementation of the Family Justice Strategy, which was developed to create a more user-friendly family justice system.
"We know that, while many countries have a set of child maintenance guidelines in place to help parents make private agreements, there are currently no guidelines available to parents in Ireland to help them to come to such agreements on how much child maintenance should be paid.
“The aim of this work is to provide parents with voluntary guidelines and an easy-to-use calculator to help determine fair child maintenance payments, with the best interests of their children being the primary focus."
The survey is open from 7 April to 2 May 2025. It can be accessed at the following link: Child Maintenance Survey.
Notes
Internationally, Child Maintenance Guidelines consider a range of factors, including the income of both parents, the age of children, and how much care each parent provides to their children as well as and other dependents. It is important that stakeholders’ views on the relevance of these and other factors inform any final set of guidelines for Ireland.
The Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025 included a plan to review how child maintenance orders are enforced with the aim of improving the current system. The review was led by the department’s Civil Policy Unit, building on the previous work and report of the Child Maintenance Review Group.
Interviews were carried out with members of the Family Justice Implementation Group – including the Courts Service, the Legal Aid Board, members of the judiciary. Additionally a number of District Court judges working in the area of family law were also interviewed.
The review also involved a comparative analysis of child maintenance enforcement in seven jurisdictions. The review was completed and published in 2024, containing 26 recommendations, including the creation of Child Maintenance Guidelines to help parents to make private child maintenance arrangements.
A Committee was established by the Department of Justice, to develop the guidelines, comprising members from the Department of Social Protection; the Department of Children, Disability and Equality; the Courts Service; the Legal Aid Board; and Tusla.
The Review can be accessed at the following link: Review of the Enforcement of Child Maintenance Orders.
The Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025 can be accessed at the following link: Family Justice Strategy 2022 - 2025.