Ms Mary Roche:

Senator Black said it is depressing and asked how we got here. We referred to the recommendations of the 1994 Law Reform Commission report. It is 25 years later and there have been massive societal changes and everybody knows that. Some 12% of our population are immigrants. We have a walk-in service and women who do not speak English come to us for assistance with forms and so forth. Society has changed, for the better in many respects, and people are much freer. Marriage is going out of fashion to an extent. People have children by different partners. We have this at one level but, on the other side, there is a family law system that has changed very little, although we acknowledge that the legislation has improved. Then there is the issue that the system and families are not being resourced. Public services are in disarray. This shambolic system is what one has as a result.