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The publication of anonymised case reports from the Family Law Reporting Project is an important step towards transparency and accountability
The publication of anonymised case reports from the Family Law Reporting Project is an important step towards transparency and accountabilityIf people are resorting to the family courts, communication is usually already poor or has degenerated into acrimony.
Photograph: iStockCarol Coulter’s first volume of 103 anonymised case reports from the Family Law Reporting Project suggests the opposite: the families who end up in court are unhappy in strikingly similar ways. The case reports from these private family law proceedings are separate to the continuing childcare law reports from the Child Law Project she started in 2012.
The latest report was commissioned from the Child Law Project – a respected independent entity – by Minister for JusticeThe small but representative sample of cases is a first step towards greater transparency in a system that is frequently opaque due to stringent reporting restrictions. Even before the expert thematic analysis that will be published later, certain trends are clear.
Karoline Leavitt leaves chaotic White House with immaculate timingOne judge comments that “communication is gold”, but if people are resorting to the family courts, aside from uncontested divorces, communication is usually already poor or has degenerated into acrimony. Access to children becomes a flashpoint for many. Cases frequently involve one parent, often the father, applying for enforcement of access, or stating that access has completely broken down.
The other parent often counters that the child or children no longer want access, or that the applicant is unreliable or unsafe. It is striking how often judges try to take children’s wishes into account, including by talking to them in chambers. Grandparents, particularly paternal grandmothers, often end up facilitating access, either by dropping off and collecting children or providing a venue for meeting. Addiction and substance misuse are common destroyers of relationships.
Safety and barring orders are often sought but not always granted. Maintenance orders are often in arrears or requests are made to reduce them, again frequently by fathers. Theon a single day as part of a longer list. Although there is no commentary from the Family Law Reporting Project on surrogacy, it demonstrates how common it has become, without much societal discussion of ethical ramifications for children or surrogate mothers.
Instead, media coverage tends to focus on difficulties adults may encounter in establishing parentage. Sometimes cases are painfully protracted, including a District Court case involving access and a primary schoolchild, which had been before the court 18 times at roughly six-month intervals.
In another High Court case lasting six years, in the latest development, a mother had made unfounded allegations to She also invented access appointments to which she brought the children but about which the father knew nothing about, leading the children to believe he was uncaring and unreliable. The case was adjourned again to allow continued cross-examination of the expert witness, a psychologist who had recommended that custody be reversed in favour of the father for at least three months.
Although many family law cases are settled more or less to the satisfaction of all parties, the case reports show clear evidence of systemic dysfunction, not least in large backlogs of cases, delays in access to free legal aid, and frequent adjournments. Sometimes cases are adjourned because the parties involved cannot afford to pay for a court-mandated expert report. There has been significant unease about the role of expert witnesses who are commissioned to amplify the voice of the child.
A 2024 Department of Justice study on expert witnesses reported costs ranging from €3,000 to €12,000. Furthermore, there is no standardised training. If litigants are unhappy, the expert witness can only be challenged by cross-examination, which is an additional hefty cost. Public funding for expert reports was recommended to avoid poorer families being unfairly disadvantaged.
The department’s report also recommended creating a children’s advocate role with rigorous training. Judicial guidelines published last April repeatedly emphasise that expert reports are not binding. An expert witness is not a finder of fact but a provider of professional assessment and opinion. The judge is the sole decision maker.ruling by judge Garrett Simons, overturning a District Court decision to resume access visits by a father.
Crucially, the judge found that the child’s views had not been properly ascertained, and that the court-appointed expert had effectively become involved in assessing the case alongside the judge. The mother had not been allowed to cross-examine the expert witness. According to Simons, the District Court judge reached a premature judgment before all the evidence had been examined.
However, such judicial reviews illuminating the inner workings of courts are rare, rendering the Family Law Reporting project an even more important step towards transparency and accountability. In another important development, dedicated family courts operating at District, Circuit and High Court level with full-time specialist judges are planned for three initial pilot locations next January. Family law reform is essential.
But it is equally essential to also ask ourselves what is lacking in our current culture that results in so many finding it hard to establish homes, marriages and relatively happy, stable families. If there is a strategic brain around the Cabinet table, it is being kept well hiddenIrish Ministers are helping to reshape the EU as a defence alliance with a wartime economyMean Girls show cancelled mid-performance after power cut at Bord Gáis Energy TheatreGalway Races Ladies’ Day: ‘Colour and style just adds to everything that’s happening on the track’‘Your father’s playing golf in Doonbeg,’ Hennessy goes. ‘While the cat’s away, the mice will fornicate’
Courts-Service High-Court Parenting