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Up-to-date statistics on what's happening in Ireland's secretive family law courts?

  • 10-01-2023 7:00pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭


    If I want to find out up-to-date statistics on what's happening the the family law courts in the UK, for instance, I can get them in their 'Family Law Statistics Quarterly'. Here's the latest one, published in December 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022/family-court-statistics-quarterly-data-quality-statement

    Across the EU, other governments provide similar light on what's going on in their family courts. Where is the equivalent published data on what's happening in the family law courts of this State by the Government of Ireland in 2023?

    The most recent statistics I can find are just only sample case studies rather than statistics for the whole family law legal system in this State. More specifically, Róisín O'Shea's hugely informative 2014 PhD [https://repository.wit.ie/2825/] based on attending family court sittings between 2008 and 2012, and Carol Coulter's earlier study based on attendance in the 2006-2007 legal year. [https://www.claruspress.ie/shop/family-law-in-practice-a-study-of-cases-in-the-circuit-court/]


    Specifically, Coulter's research on cases in 2006/2007 says that only 10% of all cases went before a judge for a full trial - i.e 90% of all cases are settled before reaching court:

    'These figures show that only about 10 per cent of family law cases are contested to the end. Contrary to popular perception, most are settled and the people concerned get on with their lives.

    It is clear from the files that the settlement can come at various stages and may follow years of bitter dispute and protracted negotiations. For instance, cases begun in 2003 or 2004 had often gone through several hearings on matters like discovery and access to children before eventually they end with a settlement.' [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/only-10-of-family-law-cases-are-contested-to-the-end-1.1196154]


    Does anybody have updated 2022/2023 statistics for this issue? Are 90% of family law cases/divorces in this State really being settled before they reach a judge in 2022/2023?

    The only section of Irish society which profits from this denial of the basic statistics of the family law court judgements and processes is the solicitors/barristers involved, for whom this veil of secrecy ensures fear, which ensures far more money. It is as simple as that. No matter how many politicians prat on about "best interests of the child", as long as the whole system of family law is shrouded in secrecy it will never be, in reality, about the best interests of anybody but the legal profession (the same goes for the extraordinary delays in processing cases, with not a care in the world for all the children living in tension-filled, unhappy homes for years while successive ministers for Justice refuse to fast-track resolution of these cases by putting, for instance, a 6-month time limit). How does one go about getting the key statistics of what is happening in terms of judgements in the family law courts in 2022/2023?



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