Children are pictured in a file photo carrying the gifts during their First Communion. Photo: OSV News Family law proceedings concerning child custody, access, guardianship and childcare matters are currently held in secret under the in-camera rule and that must be reformed according to TD Paul Gogarty who launched a bill and a two-hour debate this week calling on the Minister to enact legislation to replace the current blanket ban on reporting with a modern transparency framework that would permit reporting with restrictions.
A successful pilot scheme in England and Wales is to extend to Northern Ireland with accredited journalists and legal bloggers allowed to report on proceedings while anonymising the identities of the children and family members.
A recently published book entitled Justice for Birth Mothers – The Fight Against Forced Separation in Modern Ireland by Dr Finbar Markey and Anna Kavanagh documents harrowing experiences of women disempowered, unheard and unable to challenge decisions made behind closed doors.
“The family law system is harming our children” according to Deputy Gogarty. “In the years to come what is happening will be seen as State-sanctioned child abuse. There is something seriously wrong with the courts, with Tusla, with experts and, above all, with the in camera rule.”
Campaigner and barrister, Laoise de Brún welcomed the bill. “There are serious systemic issues that need scrutiny. There is an inability to see when a perpetrator is using procedure to further abuse and control his ex-partner, there is an ideological approach taken whereby contact is forced even with an unsafe, abusive father.
“The voice of the child is centred only ignored if it contradicts the experts of Tusla. Experts wield enormous power to make or break families and unbelievably this field is entirely unregulated. A mother reports sexual abuse only for this allegation to be reframed as evidence of ‘parental alienation’ a concept debunked across Europe.
“Not only is she not believed and her allegation weaponised, often the child is taken from her and given to that father despite the allegation of sexual abuse. Newborns are taken at birth from mothers for a myriad of reasons from historic domestic violence or homelessness. There is zero accountability or scrutiny because no one can report on these Court proceedings.”