Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did not get a chance to speak to the second amendment directly. The Minister will appreciate that we support the objective of the Bill. One of the initial objectives was to ensure accountability in judgments in family law courts and to have a reporting system to ensure same. The Minister has tried to provide a counterbalance in the Bill of protecting the privacy of the parties, in particular where children are involved.

There is more work to do on the "bona fide" issue. It is too much to ask the parties in the court and their legal representatives to ascertain the position. I have not tabled an amendment on local media, but I am concerned about the issue. The Minister is aware that the media are present in the District and Circuit courts and family courts are held in the Circuit Court. The journalists represent a newspaper and according to the Bill are bona fide. If they report different aspects of a case in a local newspaper, it does not take much of a stretch of the imagination for people to work out basic details and identify people even when the parties are not named. In a city, one might not be aware of a divorce or separation across the street, but in rural areas one is, particularly where children are involved and families are in dispute. In the case of large, extended families, narratives could be put out by either side. Sadly, that occurs all too often.

If we do not have a fairly tight restriction with one bona fide representative and with these checks and balances in place, I am concerned that we would be on dangerous ground.

We also discussed the issue of contemporaneous reporting. A reporter could go online or on radio to report a case that, unfortunately, somehow manages to identify families. People may even wrongly assume which family is involved, in which case children could face teasing or other difficulties. I appeal, therefore, for more caution concerning the bona fide representatives. I appreciate that the Bill gives a judge a fair degree of discretion, but I am not sure if it is tight enough around these issues. I ask the Minister to consider the matter further.

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