Dr. Sarah Fennell:

In response to Deputy Daly's question on the working of the section 47 report system, what regularly happens in court hearings is that if either side challenges the findings of a report the assessor will come to court to give evidence. The assessor can be examined and cross-examined by the legal teams or the parties if they are not represented. This is commonly done. There certainly is case law that indicates the section 47 assessment is a tool in the overall process. Judges should certainly not in any way be bound by it but it is a factor to take into consideration.

In endorsing the comments made on the need for specialist training for judges and assigning judges from a pool, I would indicate caution that we do not fall into the danger of looking at family law in a vacuum as if it is separate from other spheres of law. Sometimes family law has a tendency to be viewed perhaps as a non-legal topic. It is very legal and it is complex. This is inevitable in many cases as it involves elements of constitutional law, EU law, international law, jurisdictional disputes, company law and pension law. There are various elements to family law cases and we have to be careful that we do not try to separate it as a distinct sphere that is separate from other legal spheres.