Domestic violence and access court cases in Dublin badly disrupted by public sector dispute

Domestic violence, child access and guardianship applications are among those facing serious disruption at Dublin District Family Law Court due to the continuing public sector work-to-rule.The delays led to a warning from an advocacy group, Right to Transparency (RTT), that the disruption could “seriously compromise” the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and families.Five courts normally sit daily at the Dolphin House family court complex, but the work-to- rule, which is now in its fifth week, means just two or three are now sitting daily, leading to a large number of adjournments. The problems at Dolphin House have worsened due to recent retirements of two court registrars there and because the work-to-rule means other staff cannot “act-up” into other roles.READ MOREWhile the action has not affected emergency applications under the Domestic Violence Act, it has affected the full hearings of some cases under the Act.On Thursday, RTT urged Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to intervene urgently, saying families were facing “mounting distress, financial costs and uncertainty”. Court decisions concerning domestic abuse, child custody and access “can have immediate and profound consequences for the safety, wellbeing and stability of children and their parents”, it said. [ Life as a family lawyer: ‘I’ve had cases that ended in death’ ]“People attending court for safety and barring order applications and child custody and access proceedings have spent days waiting, sometimes accompanied by their children, and taken unpaid leave from work, only to be told their cases cannot proceed,” the group’s cofounder, Síle Ní Dhubhghaill, said.“For a parent waiting to hear what will happen to their child or for someone seeking protection from abuse, this is not simply an inconvenience. “For anyone whose own safety or the safety of their children depends on a court order, delays and uncertainty about the status of that order can have serious consequences.”While court services workers “have every right to negotiate for better conditions”, families “need certainty that urgent cases will be heard and that nobody will be left without access to essential legal protection”, she said.She said the Minister for Justice “needs to engage with the Courts Service urgently and find out how sittings can resume, how postponed cases will be heard and what support is available to families while they wait”.Sandra McAleer, a leading family law solicitor, also expressed concern, saying many of her clients were being asked repeatedly to return to the court due to their applications not being reached on their listed day. One client, who has a child with a disability, is left trying to arrange care for that child to facilitate repeated visits to court, McAleer said.“This is causing huge stress for clients. They ask me every day what is going on, when will their case be heard,” McAleer said. One client had to return to court seven times, she said.One mother who is involved in long-running child custody proceedings said the court closures and delays “have added enormous stress to an already emotionally exhausting” process. “Every postponed hearing means more uncertainty for my children’s lives at a time when they need stability,” the woman said. “There is a lot of preparation behind a family law hearing. When a hearing is cancelled, that work is wasted, costs go up and we are left in limbo. The children are the ones who feel it most.”