Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I recognise Deputy Durkan's own interest in and commitment to this issue. We have discussed it before. There is a real opportunity now due to the work the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, is doing on the family courts. There are two elements to that. There is the physical element whereby family law cases should not take place in the normal District Court alongside licence renewals and minor assaults. Family law cases should be heard in a separate place or at least at a separate time to take some of the stress away from parents, children and everyone involved. In regard to the policies that are taking place within the family courts, the Deputy is correct in saying that the in camerarule creates some element of a veil in regard to what happens in proceedings relevant to children. That is why the works of such groups as the family law reporting system led by Dr. Carol Coulter is so important in giving us an understanding on an anonymised basis of what is happening within the family courts.

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