Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

I also extend my sincere condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of the late Seamus Carroll and especially his wife, Treasa.
Last Sunday, a dignified protest was held across all Twenty-six Counties by women and men seeking a transparent, trauma-informed and trustworthy family court system. Those involved walked a mile in solidarity with people affected by ongoing failures in this deeply flawed system to highlight the damage that has been and is currently being done to children in particular. In some cases, children's shoes were left outside courthouses as a symbol of who is affected most. This is not a legacy issue of abuse. It is one that is ongoing and still hurting children and parents, especially but not exclusively women.
The Taoiseach may be aware of this grassroots campaign. It is called Walk in Our Shoes, and today a group is walking peacefully from the Four Courts to outside these Houses of the Oireachtas. They are walking right now, as far as I understand. They are doing it because the system is not fit for purpose, whether it is the in-camera rule, which allows bad decision-making to be brushed aside, or the over-reliance on so-called experts, some of whom appear to act as paid shills or devotees of a cult rather than focusing on putting the voice of the child first. We then have historical failures by Tusla, which are still going on all over the place. Most recently, we had appalling abuses over 12 years where a proper investigation did not take place because of an over-reliance on cultural sensitivities, among other things.
We had a very good debate last April on my Private Members' motion which called on the Government to replace this outdated, blanket in-camera rule with a controlled transparency framework, while implementing strict regulations on court-appointed experts and strengthening statutory oversight of Tusla. I mentioned that the current in-camera rule forces child custody access and childcare proceedings to happen behind closed doors. It creates a culture of silence that disempowers vulnerable parents and also masks the systemic under-resourcing, groupthink and poor decision-making that go on. This lack of scrutiny has led to so many children being exposed to emotional harm. Some who are now over the age of 18 are telling their stories but some are still in the system. While Ireland delays its own 2025 review recommendations, we now have jurisdictions like England and Wales, and the pilot in Northern Ireland, where they have transitioned to controlled transparency. Where the in-camera rule has gone, the assumption is that bloggers and journalists can report while also protecting the anonymity of children. We have had meetings with the Minister for justice. Guidelines have been promised on these so-called experts in the court that judges hugely rely on. However, I am worried that we are not going fast enough and that children are still going to be systemically abused because a light is not being shone on poor decisions and in some cases corrupt ones.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30