The silence of the system: a new campaign calls for reform of Ireland’s family courts

The initiative, titled Right to Transparency, is focused on how women and children experience the family courts after leaving abusive relationships, particularly in cases involving coercive control, child access disputes, and allegations of parental alienation. Campaigners say the system frequently retraumatises survivors, silences women through the in-camera rule, and can prioritise procedural norms and parental access over safety.

Barrister and campaign founder Lisa Ann Wilkinson said the campaign emerged from years of listening to women navigating a system that she believes fundamentally misunderstands domestic abuse. “For too long, the family law system has failed to reflect the lived reality of domestic abuse,” Wilkinson said about the launch. “Women and children are being placed at continued risk through processes that are not informed by coercive control. This campaign is about ensuring that safety – not procedure – becomes the central principle of family law in Ireland.”

Wilkinson says many people still assume that once a woman physically leaves an abusive relationship, the danger is over. In reality, she argues, abuse frequently continues through legal processes, financial control and disputes around children. “Everyone thinks that’s it,” she said. “She might be in a refuge. She might have gotten out of the house. Everyone thinks that’s it, but it’s not actually. The abuse escalates at that point.” That escalation, she says, can take the form of prolonged legal proceedings, refusal to sign passports or school consent forms, blocking therapy or medical decisions, and using ongoing court applications to force continued contact and control.

The campaign is calling for a series of reforms, including changes to the in-camera rule, mandatory fact-finding hearings in cases involving allegations of abuse, specialist judicial training in coercive control and domestic violence, and greater regulation of Section 32 and Section 47 assessments, the expert reports frequently used in custody and access proceedings.

At the centre of the campaign is criticism of how family law proceedings currently operate behind closed doors. The in-camera rule means family law cases are heard in private and details of proceedings generally cannot be publicly discussed. While intended to protect the privacy of children and families, critics argue the system has created a culture of secrecy that shields the courts from scrutiny and leaves survivors isolated.

“Anything that happens in the courtroom, you cannot speak about anybody without the permission of the court,” says Wilkinson. “When you have transparency, the halo effect occurs… the system starts behaving itself.”

Campaigners are also raising concerns about the use of “parental alienation” allegations in abuse cases, arguing that women attempting to protect children from abusive ex-partners can themselves become framed as obstructive or manipulative. They say this can have devastating consequences when allegations shape court-appointed assessment reports and influence decisions around custody and access. “The dads usually use this,” Wilkinson said, referring to allegations of parental alienation. “It’s a thing called DARVO… suddenly, the abuser becomes the victim… and she’s the unreliable one.”

The campaign launch comes amid growing public attention on coercive control, femicide, and post-separation abuse in Ireland. Although coercive control became a criminal offence in Ireland in 2019, advocates argue implementation remains inconsistent and poorly understood across the justice system. Mary-Louise Lynch, founder of Survivors Informing Services and Institutions (SISI), said many women experience the family court process itself as another form of trauma. “The family courts can operate in a way that silences women and exposes children to ongoing harm,” Lynch said. “Survivors are not being heard, and the voices of children are too often overlooked. Reform is not optional – it is essential.”

Wilkinson also criticised what she describes as a lack of trauma-informed understanding across the wider legal system, arguing that women entering family court are often already dealing with the long-term psychological impact of abuse. “These women are actually in a state of trauma,” she told Image. “Their critical thinking skills are diminished, and they don’t know how to play the game of family law.”

The initiative says it will now begin engaging directly with policymakers, legal professionals and advocacy organisations in an effort to push for legislative and structural reform. Its broader argument is that domestic abuse cannot be treated as separate from the systems designed to respond to it. For campaigners, reforming family law is not simply about court procedure. It is about whether women and children are believed, protected and allowed to live safely after leaving abuse.

See righttotransparency.com for more information.