Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

In regard to the question of family law division the current practical arrangement in the Dublin Circuit Court is that for all practical purposes there is a family law list administered by a number of judges. The Circuit Courts outside Dublin do not have a similar dedicated list which is heard by a group of judges or by a judge sitting alone exclusively dedicating himself or herself to family law cases. That is an issue I propose to address. The more wide-ranging recommendation which was made by the Law Reform Commission for a separate family law division would involve the appointment of judges exclusively to family law cases. I am not satisfied that it would be possible to recruit a corp of judges to do this work exclusively. That said, I am open to change in the sense that I believe judges within the Circuit Court system and within the other courts that had jurisdiction in these matters should be assigned on a permanent basis for a period of years to deal with these cases on a dedicated basis. That is something that was advanced in the report which I have asked my Department to examine.

On the question of press reporting, one of the reasons this area has not come to light for some years is that there is inaccurate reporting and there is no publicity. The constitutional presumption is that justice should be administered in public. That is an important presumption because it allows full and fair criticism to take place of court decisions. My predecessor and the Oireachtas enacted the necessary legislation in 2004 that allowed this research project take place which has thrown light on the operation of the courts system. I very much welcome that. Further recommendations are made in the report about extending publicity in these matters and they are under examination in my Department.

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