Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I recognise the work being done by the Garda, often in very difficult circumstances, and that needs to be acknowledged. The difficulty is not really about legislation or the work of An Garda Síochána but is about the court process and how this very often lets the victim down. The Minister would acknowledge that there are difficulties in respect of that.

In other jurisdictions, there is a one court system for domestic violence, where family law court and criminal law court come together, recognising that there is a serious connection between the two. It would be very worthwhile for the Department to look at that and see how it can be addressed. This is one of the key recommendations in this report. It talks about legal and procedural defragmentation of the court process in dealing with domestic violence.

The issue is that there is not sufficient communication between the criminal and family law courts and we need to see that happen. This cannot simply happen through a scheme, where both communicate with each other better. I think one would have to have the one court and one system. That needs to happen as quickly as possible.

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