The District Court ordered the Health Service Executive to pay the legal costs of a maternal grandmother and approved foster carer for court reviews held after a care order concerning Child A. The costs are to be taxed if the parties cannot agree on the amount.
The decision concerns costs only. The court considered the grandmother’s application for legal costs incurred in relation to reviews required by directions made when the care order was granted. It did not set a figure for those costs.
The judgment says Child A was made subject to a care order in winter 2013, lasting until the child’s 18th birthday, which was due in summer 2022. The grandmother, identified as M., had been joined as a notice party in the care proceedings, had legal representation and had previously been awarded costs against the agency. That earlier costs order was not appealed, according to submissions recorded by the court.
When making the care order, the court issued directions under section 47 of the Child Care Act 1991. These included re-entering the case if the proposed placement with M. and her partner was not approved by the Foster Care Committee within 12 weeks, and listing the case for a progress review in winter 2014. M. remained a notice party and legally represented for the reviews and re-entries.
The court heard oral submissions in January 2016 and considered written submissions from the agency and M.’s solicitor. It applied the Supreme Court’s guidance in Child and Family Agency v O.A. [2015] IESC 52 on how courts should exercise discretion over costs.
In allowing the application, the judge said it was unusual for a foster carer to be joined as a notice party and remain involved in reviews. The agency had not objected to that continuing role when the section 47 directions were made, the judgment said. The judge described the combined circumstances as unusual and exceptional, and noted the complexity of child care proceedings and the importance of legal representation in serving the interests of justice.
The order covers the notice party’s costs for reviews under the directions from the finalisation of the care order up to the date of the decision. The judgment does not specify that date or the amount payable.