318. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether training is available for judges and all family justice professionals in coercive control, domestic abuse, trauma and child development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52327/26]

The Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025 is the ambitious programme of reform developed by my Department which sets out a vision for a system refocused on the needs and rights of children, who are central to many family justice matters. The actions within the Strategy are aimed at ensuring the family justice system works better for all those engaged with it, but particularly for those who need additional supports and protection.

Goal 5 of the Family Justice Strategy focuses on people development and includes a commitment to establish a Working Group to:

• Research the minimum standards and recommended training required for professionals working in the family justice area;

• Identify professional development opportunities to address identified gaps relevant to profession/relevant to all where appropriate; and

• Engage with educational and professional bodies and associations to develop and implement training across professions in core family justice areas e.g. child-centred approach, dispute resolution, and trauma-informed practice.

This Working Group was established in July 2024 and comprises membership from key government departments, state agencies and legal professional bodies. The Group examined minimum training standards and proposed a recommended training approach. The recommendations were discussed at the Family Justice Development Forum in January this year and work on implementing the approach has commenced. A first step will be to develop key training videos and to establish a Family Justice Training Hub.

The Judicial Council Act 2019 provides a statutory basis for education and training of the Irish Judiciary. The Judicial Studies Committee was established on 10 February 2020, and Section 17 of the 2019 Act sets out the role and responsibilities of the Committee in facilitating the continuing education and training of judges. Areas of training include matters of child and family law, ethics and conduct, human rights and equality, and judgecraft which covers court management, case management, judgment writing, and other work practices.

Since 2020, all newly appointed judges participate in a structured induction programme which includes modules on procedural justice, courtroom dynamics, judicial conduct and ethics, as well as unconscious bias. The Committee further offers a series of education and training programmes to the entire judiciary, covering modules such as:

• Avoiding Re-traumatisation: A specialised workshop for criminal trial judges, focusing on reducing trauma for victims during sexual offence cases, with inputs from organisations such as One in Four.

• Coercive Control: This training workshop delivered by the judicial trainers includes input from Women’s Aid and a leading academic and examines legal provisions, psychological impacts, and emerging case law.

All courses and materials are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect participant feedback, new requirements, and best international practices.

Ensuring that our justice system can respond effectively to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) is a key priority for the Government. It is important that frontline professionals, including the judiciary, have the necessary skills and understanding of DSGBV to work within the sector. Cuan, the Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Agency, has worked with the Judicial Council to develop an action on judicial training under the Prosecution Pillar of the Zero Tolerance Strategy to combat DSGBV.

In addition to training for the judiciary, the 2025-2026 Zero Tolerance Implementation Plan outlines a programme of mandatory DSGBV training for those working in family law, including technical skills and further specialist training depending on the role. It is intended that this action will develop and train the family justice workforce to ensure it is trauma-informed, empathetic and responsive to the needs of all users of the family justice system, including children and survivors of DSGBV.