‘Valerie’s Law’ will close legal loophole and safeguard children – Ward

Proposals around parental rights for those convicted of killing their partners, or a parent of their child, will finally close a legal loophole, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Dún Laoghaire Deputy Barry Ward said that a memo to be brought to Cabinet today by the Minister for Justice, for the publication of the Guardianship of Infants Bill, commonly known as ‘Valerie’s Law’, is fulfilling a government commitment to address a serious anomaly in family law.

Deputy Ward explained: “‘Valerie’s Law’, as it will be known, is named after Valerie French, the mother of three who was murdered by her husband James Kilroy, at the age of 41, at their home in Westport in June 2019. Following her death, Ms French’s three children were found by Gardaí in their rural home, hungry and “very dehydrated”. At present, people who kill their partners or ex-partners retain guardianship of shared children.

“We must at all times remain conscious and respectful of the victims of these terrible crimes, as well as their families, as we progress this important legislation. In recent years, I have met with a number of activist groups that have called for this legislation to be progressed and their activism must be acknowledged and commended today.

“Basic human decency would tell you that it is inappropriate and immoral that someone convicted of killing a spouse/partner would be entitled to maintain guardianship rights of their shared children.

“The children in these cases are extremely vulnerable and deserve to be protected by the state; the status quo falls way short of this.

“Ireland is not alone in having this legislative gap. I hope that the Minister’s memo to Cabinet today will prompt action from some of our EU neighbours in addressing this in their own jurisdictions.

“I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of Maura Butler and her team on the report titled ‘A Study on Familicide & Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews’, commissioned by my former colleague – Charlie Flanagan when he was Minister for Justice.

“I look forward to working with Minister O’Callaghan to ensure that this is prioritised and progressed through the Oireachtas as soon as possible,” concluded Deputy Ward.