Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again bring to the attention of the House the concerns expressed by Supreme Court judge Mr. Justice Peter Charleton in relation to the undue and worrying influence of special or expert witnesses and their ability to influence, unduly, the decisions of the courts, in other words, replacing the courts. This particularly relates to family law courts, in which such witnesses now have the monopoly; they are either tutors of or receive tuition from their colleagues. The one rule applies, which is that women before family law courts will not get a fair judgment because they cannot get one, as this is predetermined. I ask for an urgent inquiry into that practice.

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