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

Again I raise a question I have had to raise on several occasions with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, namely parental alienation and the degree to which it continues to be used in family law. I have gone through this to some extent. Parents – mostly women but in some cases men – continue to have decisions made about them by way of reference to so-called expert witnesses. They are maligned in their submissions. Now a large number of people, maybe up to 200, both women and men, have been condemned to experience the outcomes. How can we arrive at circumstances in which these cases can be taken on en blocto reverse the damage done to family life, particularly that of women who are mothers?

See this speech in context