CONSIDERATION SHOULD be given to relaxing the in camera rule which prevents reportage on all aspects of cases heard in court under the Childcare Act, a child law expert said yesterday.
Geoffrey Shannon said there was no doubt the present system needed to be changed but he warned against any knee-jerk reaction in the midst of the debate around public confidence in the child-protection system.
There were two competing rights involved in considering the issue. These were the right to privacy of a child, which was hugely important, and a need for a fair, transparent and accountable system of justice.
“It’s my view that secrecy surrounding the in camera rule allows good work to go unnoticed and criticism to go unchallenged,” he said.
“I would not be in favour of getting rid of the in camera rule but I would be in favour of a system that would allow for comprehensive reporting of childcare cases while maintaining the anonymity of the children involved. I would be in favour of relaxing the in camera rule but not removing it.”
He said one way of doing this might be to allow somebody attend cases and report on what happened in a general way, as Irish Timeslegal affairs editor Carol Coulter did when she attended the Irish family law courts. It would allow, for example, a look at whether some District Court judges were more likely to grant supervision orders to the HSE which allow it to keep an eye on a child not taken into care. "Children would benefit from that type of analysis."
Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke, who chaired a cross-party committee that produced a report proposing a referendum on children’s rights, said she would also be in favour of opening up childcare hearings. “I would come out in favour of full reportage without names of course . . . much could be learned from it.”
Mary Ellen Ring SC also said it was perhaps time to take away the in camera rule so the public realises how difficult these cases are and understands why children come into care.
They were speaking in the aftermath of calls for a public inquiry into the HSE’s handling of the case of 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie, who was found murdered last week. He had been missing since February, and had been in HSE care since 2003.
Mr Shannon is part of a new independent group recently asked by Minister for Children Barry Andrews to review the HSE’s investigations into all deaths of children in care since 2000.