Independent Senator Jillian Van Turnhout has, during two Seanad debates, acknowledged the contribution of Dr Fergus Ryan of Maynooth University Department of Law in drafting amendments to the Children First Bill 2015 and the Marriage Bill 2015.
Fergus drafted several amendments to the Children First Bill which were tabled by Senator Van Turnhout. One of these - removing the defence of reasonable chastisement of children by their parents - was ultimately accepted in principle by the Government, and a Government amendment with the same purpose and effect was passed. Fergus was also responsible for drafting an amendment to the Marriage Bill which would have required all persons marrying to be aged 18 or over, without provision for exemption, the purpose being to reduce the prospects of forced marriages involving minors. Though the latter amendment was not accepted, the Minister acknowledged the issue and promised to address it in future legislation, noting that the amendment was ‘extremely well drafted’.
Dr Fergus Ryan lectures in Family Law on the Department's LLB programme and in Gender, Sexuality and the Law and Marriage and the Law on the LLM (Global Legal Studies) masters degree.