Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Deputy has raised an issue that has been a concern of mine for many years. The difficult reality is that we have within our courts system no separate court to deal with family law matters, unlike the separate unified system of family courts in Australia. Within the District and Circuit Court there are separate court sittings dealing with family law issues, and the High Court sits separately to deal with family law applications.

In the context of the issue raised by the Deputy, I am not aware of there being "thousands of maintenance cases", so described, in which women are awaiting emergency maintenance orders sitting in a court backlog. I am not aware either that if there is a need for emergency maintenance, it would take a year for a determination to be made. If the Deputy has particular cases where that has occurred, I ask her to draw them to my attention or table a question on the timeframe.

I am aware that in the District Court it may take a number of weeks if not some months for maintenance cases to be determined. Where there is a need for emergency maintenance within the courts, there are procedures for the making of an application for what is known as interim maintenance and for interim maintenance orders to be granted. That applies across the courts system.

I share the Deputy's concern with regard to what is known as the in camera rule, which was put in place many years ago to ensure that those who experience family difficulties may have their family law proceedings determined in circumstances of anonymity and that they are not in any way intimidated out of taking matters to court because the family story might appear in the newspapers to the embarrassment of the people in question or the detriment of their children's welfare. The in camera rule means there is little public knowledge of the manner in which family cases are determined within the courts system, and there is no transparency in the manner in which members of the Judiciary deal with family matters. The Circuit Court particularly deals with a substantial majority of the separation and divorce cases, and the District Court deals with an overwhelming majority of the maintenance and barring order cases. There is no repository of judgments delivered by members of the Judiciary detailing the approach taken by them in applying the very detailed legal principles of relevance. It is my intention to introduce legislation to provide for reform in this area so we have greater transparency in family court proceedings with the possibility of reporting while still protecting the anonymity of the individuals engaged in such proceedings.

The Deputy is aware that as part of the programme for Government we provide for a unified system of family courts the nature of which we do not have in the State at present. The establishment of such courts is crucial if we are to ensure family law is addressed in a manner that is appropriate in the 21st century and provides the courts with the standard backup services dealing with child welfare issues such as are available in other jurisdictions and which perhaps replicate what is available in the family court system in Australia. I am happy to tell the Deputy initial work has been completed in this area and I expect to make an announcement shortly having made certain proposals to Cabinet. If we are to establish such a unified family court system it will require a constitutional referendum and it is anticipated this referendum will take place some time during 2013 when the more detailed work required in the area has been completed.

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