Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A protection order can be sought, whether or not Deputy McDonald is aware of it, at District Court level by way of an ex parte application by a wife who is a victim of domestic violence. By simply attending the District Court, a wife in such circumstances is afforded every assistance by the District Court clerks and these applications are dealt with in camera before District Court judges. As a family lawyer, on many an occasion I have made that type of application on behalf of a victim of domestic violence. In that context, a protection order is helpful.

I am an enthusiast for the European Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and would very much like Ireland to be a party to it. There is an issue, however, surrounding it. Where an individual is the sole and only owner of a home, an issue arises of whether that individual can be barred from the home under our Constitution. Successive Attorneys General have advised the Government that this is the only barrier to our signing the convention. I am not happy about this. Instead, I would very much like to be in a position to enact legislation that prescribes that where someone is the victim of domestic violence and resides with the perpetrator, then the perpetrator, even if he or she is the sole owner of the home, can at least be temporarily barred from it. There are difficulties, however, arising under Article 43 of the Constitution in this regard and I cannot ignore the advices on this.

I do not want to make any promises that I cannot deliver upon, but these are issues that we will explore further when consolidating legislation in this area as best we can. I cannot give the Deputy a definitive date for the publication of the Bill, but it is my aspiration that we publish it in 2014. Behind the scenes, a substantial amount of work has been done on a whole rake of reforms in family law which I hope will see the light of day in the coming months. I earlier referred to the proposal to provide for a separate and unified system of family courts that will inevitably result in our having to hold a constitutional referendum. Substantial work has been undertaken in my Department on a family, relationship and children Bill. There will be engagement with other colleagues in government on this. This Bill will bring about substantial reforms in family law and will be of great benefit to children and couples in a variety of different circumstances.

It is my aspiration that we will make substantial progress in these areas as we go through 2014. I look forward to the constructive contribution to the development of this legislation from Members. Indeed, I look forward to their constructive engagement in what I anticipate to be discussions and debate on the final structure of a new family court system and the constitutional provisions that should apply to it, as well as the manner in which we should deal with a whole range of family law issues, from child abuse to marriage breakdown to gay partnerships breaking up to custody and access disputes that occur between both marital and non-marital parents. There is an agenda of work on which I look forward to engaging with colleagues.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important and appropriate issue on the day Women's Aid has published its annual report.

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