OVER 4000 MORE child care orders were put through the court system in 2015 compared to the previous year, a new study has found.

The figures compiled by the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) with the help of the Courts Service found that there were 14,124 applications in 2015 compared to 9,864 in 2014.

The highest volumes of applications were in Cork, Wexford and Donegal while towns and cities in the midlands had the fewest.

Kilkenny, Tullamore in Offaly and Carlow had the fewest applications for child care orders.

Dr Carol Coulter, director of the CCLRP warned that the numbers do not always reflect the cases.

Child care orders

She said: “The inclusion since 2014 of the categories ‘Review of Care Order’ and ‘Extension of Care Order’, which reflects the practice in some courts, undoubtedly also pushed up the total number of child care matters recorded.

“With all these caveats, we can say that the courts service figures for all child care applications, which reflect units of work as recorded by the courts service staff, do reflect court activity in this area and provide useful information on the volume and spread of child care applications around the country.”

Dr Coulter also pointed out that the figures show that some courts are more likely to grant orders than others.

She added: “Nationally, 13.4%  of applications are either refused or withdrawn or struck out. However, in certain courts, a relatively high numbers of cases are refused, struck out or withdrawn.”

The figures are published on the website of the Child Care Law Reporting Project, www.childlawproject.ie, under the heading ‘statistics’. The Courts Service child care statistics for previous years are also there. 

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