Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here and for their contributions. How we get this right is a subject of key interest not just to the committee but to the Government and to society more broadly. Returning to what Ms Benson was talking about regarding coercive control in the context of the family law courts, I will give two quick examples from my constituency clinic on Friday to illustrate how much this issue affects people. This speaks to court processes, how they can minimise ongoing coercive control, or at least be aware it is happening, and how we can change that context. The first lady I spoke to in my clinic is separated and has children at home. She cannot get agreement on anything from her ex-partner. I refer to the reality of that situation. She cannot progress to the next stage until her ex-partner has put in his affidavit. It means she cannot get anywhere in accessing therapeutic supports for her children, getting agreement on play therapy, or anything else like that. Therefore, everything Ms Benson is saying about the impact of ongoing abuse on individuals and families is real. It arises as an issue in everybody's constituency clinic, as it was in mine on Friday. One of the first subjects I raised in the Dáil in my maiden speech was the impact of court processes and how they can either contribute to and facilitate ongoing coercive control or how they can try to limit it. I would like to hear the witnesses' views on that aspect.

The other side of this matter is the enforcement of court orders. Crucially, this relates to maintenance. Better proposals have been made regarding a different way to manage this aspect to try to surmount the issue of the enforcement of court orders. I refer as well to the enforcement of court orders on access, which is just as important in respect of children being able to have relationships with both parents, where those are good and positive relationships, as many of them will be.

Specifically, how do we get into the court processes? Is it through the District Court and Circuit Court rules? In the context of the conversations being had with the Judiciary, how can we get to that level of granularity concerning the impact of the timing of the filing of different documents and how that affects everything else, as well as how we can put in place systems that overcome the worst in people, whether they are unwilling to engage or whether the court system allows a case to drift? How can we introduce structures that do not enable that sort of ongoing abuse through simply not co-operating with the rules of the courts as they stand? How can we introduce limits in this regard, especially on time, and how might that contribute to catching this type of behaviour more tightly from courts' perspective?