A proposal to move divorce and separation cases to the district courts will cause “huge difficulties and injustice” for families, lawyers have said.
Legal professionals who work in family law said moving these cases from the Circuit Court to the District Court risks creating a backlog that could make things worse for couples and children.
A solicitor suggested Minister for Justice Helen McEntee should go to a Dublin family law court to see how busy it already is.
“Dolphin House, at this moment in time, it’s not fit for purpose,” said Sandra McAleer, who has worked for 18 years at the Dublin District Family Court in Dolphin House for 18 years.
“The meeting with Helen McEntee should take place at 10.30am any day in Dolphin House, and she will see what we have to deal with on a regular basis,” she added during a panel discussion held on Wednesday by the Bar of Ireland and the Family Lawyers Association.
“We have judges sitting from 10.30am to 7pm, 8pm at night trying to finish the list and try and get people access, maintenance and so forth.
“Adding 6,000, 7,000 back on to Dolphin House or in any district is absolutely abuse of children and abuse of the family itself. There is no room in the District Court for the Circuit Court work.”
The Family Courts Bill 2022 proposes establishing a Family High Court, Family Circuit Court and Family District Court as divisions within the existing courts.
The Bill aims to create a “more efficient and user-friendly” family court system, and the Bar of Ireland, barristers’ representative group, supports the majority of provisions in the legislation.
But it opposes the proposal to hold most divorce and judicial separation cases in the Family District Court, which it said is designed to process high volume, minor offence matters including road traffic offences, statutory prosecutions and liquor licensing.
In 2022, the District Court handled 56,750 family law-related cases out of a total of 471,768, while the Circuit Court had 6,305.
The Bar of Ireland said divorce and separation can cause complicated scenarios and should not be rushed in a court with “already impossibly full lists”.
A survey of 286 solicitors and barristers carried out in April by the Family Lawyers Association of Ireland indicated that 79 per cent felt insufficient time was the main challenge they faced, while 67 per cent said it was inappropriate physical settings and 65 per cent said delays in getting expert reports.
Asked if the District Court was an appropriate venue for separation and divorce proceedings, in addition to cohabitation disputes, 96 per cent said no.
Legal professionals also criticised a measure in the Bill for separation and divorce cases where the land and family home is worth more than a million euro to be heard in the Circuit Court.
Sara Phelan SC, chairwoman of the Council of the Bar of Ireland, said this would mean people in rural Ireland would not have the same time in court as those in Dublin.
She said this does not include “the vast number of couples who, simply by reason of their circumstances, cannot afford to own property at all”.
“What is fair and equitable about these differentiations based on market value of land? Or the absence of ownership of land? Absolutely nothing. It is simply not fair, it is not equitable.”
Caroline Counihan BL, legal supports manager for Safe Ireland, an advocacy group for victims of domestic violence, said the change would lead to increased delays, which would mean higher risks.
“No matter how I look at it, and I have looked at it quite hard, I cannot see how this system is going to work for our own clients, the women and children that we support, vulnerable survivors of domestic violence.
“It’s going to make, I think, their lives much, much more difficult.”
She said “delays mean effectively, for our clients, increased risk of domestic violence deepening and taking different forms as time goes by”.
She said the Circuit Court should be improved to handle these cases “rather than overburden an already overburdened District Court”.
She added: “I have been in quite a number of rural district courts for various reasons over the course of years, and the facilities are dreadful. There’s every possibility for direct intimidation by the alleged abuser, there’s terrific overcrowding, privacy is very, very difficult.
“The idea that another 6,000 divorces and separation cases are going to be forked in on top of that – I can’t see it working for our clients who already find it difficult to come to court to have a consultation in anything resembling privacy and security.”
Keith Walsh SC, manager of Keith Walsh Solicitors, said delays would lead to “huge injustices” for families.
He said the district courts face around 200 cases a day and around 20 per cent of District Court family law cases need to be dealt with on the day.
“They require urgent attention because of their statutory timelines and guidance, and if they don’t get met then children can be released from care back to potentially very hazardous and dangerous situations.”
He said that if urgent domestic violence or childcare cases come in, there is a risk that cases will be pushed back, and extra resources would not address the problem.
“Who suffers if there are delays or justice is denied? The person without the access to the children, the person without the access to the money. So with divorce and separation… the more vulnerable of the two spouses in those situations is going to suffer.”
Paul McCarthy SC, chairman of the Family Lawyers Association of Ireland, said the suggestion that moving these cases to the District Court would make things cheaper was “not stood up by any actual analysis or evidence that I’ve seen or that has been brought to my attention”.
He added that if the family court system is inefficient, there will be more court dates which will lead to further costs.
“So far from driving down costs, there is a very real possibility that costs will actually be increased by having inefficiencies,” he said, adding that the assertion was “a lazy trope” which did not do service to the argument they were making on behalf of their clients.
“We are talking to members of the Oireachtas and they have been listening with a very sympathetic ear,” he said.
He added that the Department of Justice “reached out” to the association, and they are due to meet in the next week.
