This was the considered judgement of a senior executive of the Legal Aid Board in Dublin in 1999 where the author interviewed a number of legal professionals as part of a larger study of family law reform in Ireland.
2.
The Oireachtas is the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. It is comprised of the Dail (the lower house) and the Scanad (the upper house).
3.
CousinsM., ‘Legal Aid Reform in France and the Republic of Ireland in the 1990s’ in ReganFrancisPetersonAlanGorielyTamaraFlemingDon (eds), The Transformation of Legal Aid, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 168.
4.
There are a number of sections of the Irish Consitution which refer to the family and its place in Irish society; for example, article 41.3.1 reads: ‘The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it against attack’. O'Brien reports that whenever a government has attempted to oppose or even modify the Constitutional ban on divorce they are quickly accused of anti-Catholic sentiments and denounced from the pulpit and within the Catholic press: O'BrienMags, Divorce? Facing the Issues of Marital Breakdown, Basement Press, 1995, pp. 10–11.
5.
CousinsM., above, p. 162.
6.
CousinsM., pp. 162–3.
7.
This case arose out of a claim by Mrs Airey that the absence of legal aid in civil cases before the Irish courts was a breach of article 6, para. 1 of the European Convention which guarantees: ‘In the determination of his civil rights and obligations … everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing … (Series A No. 32(1979) 2 EHRR 305 and (1981) 3 EHRR 592). Mrs Airey claimed that because of the prohibitive costs of litigation she was, in the absence of legal aid, denied access to the courts. Her claim was upheld. MaidmentSusan, ‘The Airey case’, (1980) 10Family Law69.
8.
CousinsM., above, p. 163.
9.
CousinsM., above.
10.
CousinsM., above, p. 168.
11.
O'BrienMags, above, ref 4, p. 11.
12.
O'BrienMags, above, ref 4, p. 12.
13.
WoodKieronO'SheaPaul, Divorce in Ireland, The O'Brien Press, 1997, p.49.
14.
BrowneDervla, ‘Legal Changes in the Law Covering Marital Breakdown in Ireland’ in O'BrienMags, above, ref 4, pp. 55–62.
15.
CousinsM., above, p. 168.
16.
CoulterCarol, The Hidden Tradition: Feminism, Women and Nationalism in Ireland, Cork University Press, 1993, pp.26–7.
17.
For a detailed list of legislative and policy changes in the aftermath of EU membership see DumonE. (ed.) Family Policy in EEC Countries, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1990, p. 179
18.
A barring order, as the name suggests, removes the perpetrator from the home while a safety or protection order allows the perpetrator to stay in the home on condition that the violent behaviour stops. WoodO'Shea, above, p.73.
19.
The District Court in Ireland is the lowest in the court hierarchy and roughly equivalent to the Magistrates Court in Australia. The Circuit Court is equivalent to the Australian District Court, the High Court equivalent to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court in Ireland is the highest court of appeal like the High Court in Australia.
20.
There is no separate family court in Ireland and family matters must be listed, particularly on circuit to courts other than Dublin, with all other matters. In 1999 family hearings were usually listed last and often not dealt with in the time allowed for the court to sit in any region. This meant that in practice people might wait for months or over a year for their matter to be heard.
