Ms Michele O'Boyle:

From the Law Society perspective, the committee will be that I am a practitioner and I work in the area of family law and in other areas. It is certainly the case that from the very outset family issues and issues concerning children were considered priority issues. Colleagues have worked collaboratively to ensure that those matters were dealt with expeditiously. Equally, the courts and the presidents of the courts worked hard to ensure that those matters were brought before the courts and addressed and that orders were enforced. I recall that the president of the District Court issued a direction regarding the matter when there was some concern raised about enforcement orders and whether or not parties to proceedings might use the opportunity of the pandemic not to fully comply with orders where there may have been an uncertainty around if they could or could not see their children.

That was addressed very quickly. From a practitioner's point of view, family law matters were considered important and urgent and were treated as such by all of the stakeholders.