Concerns for Family Court users if the Family Courts Bill 2022 is enacted in its current form:
At a District Court sitting for family law recently, there were 74 family law cases listed together with a number of criminal matters and a number of child and family agency cases. One judge presided.
The family law cases listed related to issues such as Domestic Violence, Custody, Access and Maintenance. These cases are complex cases with particularly sensitive issues at play. In order to deal with such cases effectively, they require time and careful consideration.
Against the backdrop of one judge endeavouring to deal with such a volume of cases in one day, it is simply unrealistic to expect the Court to be able to deal with all of these cases.
Many of the cases were adjourned in circumstances where they were not reached in the list. This meant many parents of young children spent the day waiting in court for their cases to be heard, only to be adjourned late in the evening.
It beggars belief that the Family Courts Bill 2022 is proposing to transfer the majority of divorce cases to the District Court. This will effectively multiply the number of cases listed in any one court sitting. The District Court does not have the capacity to take on additional cases.
The Irish Family Courts system is at a crossroads. If the Family Courts Bill is enacted in its current form, it will cripple the family law system.
It will deny vulnerable applicants access to justice. It will increase legal costs significantly for court users, and greatly impact the time in which it takes for an applicant to bring a case before the court and get resolution in relation to very serious family law issues which affect, quite often, young children, who are in very difficult circumstances and parents who are endeavouring to do their very best for their children.
It is not just the lawyers who are concerned in relation to this proposal. It is quite telling that organisations such as DVAs, Barnardos, Women’s Aid, Safe Ireland, Treoir, Flac and the Rape Crisis Network Ireland saw fit to recently write to the Minister for Justice calling on her to remove the provision remitting Divorce to the District Court citing their concerns that the move would worsen the situation for Family Court users.
The current family law system requires more resources to include more judges being made available to deal with the volume of cases listed on a daily basis.
It does not require an increased workload burdening the District Court, which is meant to be a court of summary jurisdiction providing fast and immediate resolution for parties in relation to their cases.
For any person who has been through the system, they will understand the need for an expeditious hearing. Victims of domestic violence should not be made to wait for justice and Irish families need to have access to the family courts system in a timely and efficient manner.
It is imperative at this point in time that the government take note of the very serious concerns raised by many stakeholders in the Irish family courts system and ensure that the provision to remit divorces to the District Court is removed from the Family Courts Bill without delay.
If you have questions about any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Sinead Keogh here.