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

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to bring this matter up again. I am aware there is a lot of support for the content of the question, both inside this House and outside. It has recently come to pass that the issue also takes up discussion in other parliaments too, including yesterday and the day before in the House of Commons, as well as at the United Nations Human Rights Council, whereby custody, violence against women, and violence against children is the subject matter for discussion.

It is a peculiar thing because as other Members and I well know, I thought we had put in place sufficient protections to ensure that women, children and all human beings have an entitlement to protection in whatever court they may be in, without the prerequisite of complying with this pseudo-condition that is supposed to affect a certain number of people. The UN special rapporteur report addresses the link between custody cases, violence against women, and violence against children. There is a focus on the abuse of the term "parental alienation" and similar pseudo-concepts. The fact that this particular pseudo concept was never accredited by peers at the time it was first floated is a question in itself. The fact that it continues on this basis is not a question in itself because it would appear that a certain group of people now have an interest, for whatever reason I do not know - it has not been explained to me - in ensuring its perpetuation to the continued harassment and disgraceful punishment of women and children. These children are left crying and whimpering for their mother because, allegedly, they have been found guilty, prior to the court, to this condition of turning the other spouse against their children.

I would have thought, to bring it to a logical conclusion, that it was similar to people falling out of a relationship and where there are natural things that happened. Maybe they are not as friendly with each other as they were before and people who were in a friendly and loving relationship previously may not be in the same friendly and loving relationship afterwards. A lot depends on what they said to each other, what the level of aggression was, and whether there was physical or mental violence. No human being, men or women, should be put through that kind of torture, and especially authorised torture in the court, which is supposed to protect them.

I strongly hold the view that any person - man, woman or child - in the legal system, the judicial system, the courtroom and whatever forum in family law is entitled to a fair course, due process and natural justice. It is a good line to abide by in all cases, in any kind of circumstances. This is particularly so because it affects custody and the degree to which the custody is bargained around by the various sides in the course of the legal proceedings. I have spoken about the issue many times in the past, and I have spoken to several Ministers about it. The problem now is that it has an urgency, because the longer this continues, the longer women will not be able to see their children. There are people that I know who have not been allowed to see their children. There are women who have not been able to see or talk to their children in a year. It is crazy stuff that in this day and age, we should be subject to that kind of thing. I have come to the conclusion that there is something there that we cannot determine. It is almost as if there were some secret organisation that had a predetermination of an attitude towards women, because they hate women - that is for sure.

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