How does an EU citizen request international human rights observers on the Irish family law courts?

How does an EU citizen go about finding an international court or human rights' organisation to investigate whether the Irish family law courts are in breach of international human rights conventions which the Government of Ireland have signed? What is the process for a citizen without resources to bring such a case to an international body/court? I obviously don't know the articles in the relevant human rights' conventions which are being breached by the Irish family law courts, but I suspect many of the rights which revolve around dignity and gender discrimination are being breached to an egregious degree in these family law courts in 2022.

Whom would one need to contact to request an international watchdog to examine Irish legislators' refusal to radically reform/humanise the family law courts and the divorce process? (McEntee's latest proposal is just a rehash of similar reform proposals and I expect no change once again, c.f. https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2022/11/16/family-law-system-to-be-overhauled-with-childrens-interests-paramount/ and https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/75571-reform-of-family-justice-system-announced-by-minister-mcentee/)

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I find it extraordinary what is going on in 2022 in the supposedly modern liberal democracy that is Ireland. This ranges from the enormous secrecy about judgments - which are almost universally believed to be strongly against fathers (successive Irish governments refuse to change the law to give the statistics on what's happening) - to the long waiting times in environments in which children and spouses suffer. Even the supposedly "non-adversarial" mediation process is adversarial: women know they have, in reality, superior rights in the minds of Irish judges to the children and family home. They must show up at mediation as that would look bad, but they will be unwilling to accept any sort of 50:50 arrangement. The secrecy of the courts' judgements feeds this sense of female entitlement to an enormous degree. And still the politicians promote "mediation" when a woman would be mad to be reasonable in it because "everybody knows" she'll keep the family home and kids and he'll be sent to flatland until they are 23.

"Everybody knows" this, and it has a pernicious influence on precisely how people react in the divorce process. Nobody in the Department of Justice wants to make the link between the secrecy of judgments and the exacerbation of everything. There is also the issue of the cost of the process - if you have the money, you can use the legal system to prolong everything - again, this is a direct product of the way the family law legal system is established in Ireland. A German friend got her divorce in under six months in Germany, and it cost €1200. In Ireland, the law is set up to make it adversarial as the stakes are so life-changing (because, again, "women get everything" so fear drives people to fight with all the money they can find) - even when the relevant Minister claims she want to make it "non-adversarial" - and therefore bestows greater rights on the person who has the money to secure them.

When the "rights" in question are to time with one's children and to own one's own home rather than be forced into renting/poverty, these very much are life-changing rights which the family law courts' judges take from good people. Why? Because, well, the modern woman working fulltime outside the home continues to successfully claim, before our courts, traditional maternal rights that stay-at-home mothers claimed 100 years ago. Feminism embraces the "maternal instinct" right there. A father, in contrast, must prove he is worthy of having equal parenting time with his children. Guilty until proven innocent. Never mind that he should have an equal right to buy his own home with his own money after the marriage is dissolved, rather than be denied that right to financial independence by an Irish judge who insists that he keep his name on the mortgage of the property that only his ex has the right to live in (often with her new man).

That Irish law insists that everybody must wait a full two years befpre they can even apply for a divorce/join the (very long) queue is a further instance of Ireland's law actually exacerbating the stresses and tensions in homes. The legislators care about the "best interests of the child"? Where do the politicians come up with this nonsense? Their policies, their laws, directly responsible for undermining the best interests of the child. This two-year waiting period was only introduced in 2019 - apparently it was a savage 4 years' wait before then, when over 80% of the electorate voted to reduce the waiting time (another case of the voters being more progressive/having more compassion than the TDs).

This "long shadow" which Roman Catholicism holds over the modern State is everywhere: why does the State feel paternalistically that we must wait two years before even apply for a divorce? (i.e. given the long waits, a reality of four/five/six years before we can actually get a divorce. What an ineffably savage lack of compassion right there from our TDs.) Do the 81 legislators in Dáil Éireann who matter think all hell will break loose if they don't impose such a restriction? Are they afraid that we might wake up some morning to get a bottle of milk and... a divorce if their waiting time did not exist? The mind boggles at how the committee system in the Oireachtas didn't recommend the removal of any such time limit on compassionate grounds given the wait for your day in court is 2-6 years anyway so one might as well join the queue immediately.

Mongfinder General

Even if you could elicit change from Europe - this will take years to happen.

As things stand your best approach may be to play the complete dead beat. Take a break from or quit job due to stress, sell what you don’t need and keep the money offside, attend with a mental health professional and keep records, borrow in your name but again keep money offside. You stand a far better chance of decreasing your financial liability if all the court can see is problems.

Even the way you dress on your day in court. Who do you think is going to get hit for more? The guy dressed in a three piece suit with a barrister in tow or the bad scruff dressed in tracksuit bottoms?

Jim2007

In summary you don't know what the law is, you don't know what treaties are being breached, you don't want to spend on it, but you expect an international body to take you seriously and start an international investigation.....

No international body is going to take that seriously.

Jim_Hodge

How can you claim beaches in a law when you don't know what the law is? Reads just like a rant.

daithi7

He's onto something though.

Statistics are published in the UK so that parties to a divorce can fairly accurately estimate how the courts are likely to adjudicate in their case. (Cos they can see from published precedent).

In Ireland, no such outcome statistics are published (like why not!?!) . E.g. we don't know how the court judges a 4 year marriage, between 2 professionals , with her moving into his house, only sharing bills, but having her own place rented out , for instance?!

Access to children is also a nightmare, with little or no sanctions taken for false accusations, afaik.

The Irish family law courts are set up to heavily favour women, and the lawyers who play the system (by milking the man). They are a deeply sexist, divisive & cynical institution imho.

They are so enshrined & protected by law & politicians, that they're not even required to publish their judgements statistically, so that they can be subject to some peer & electorate review. That's a bare minimum.

It stinks!!!