Urgent action needed to clarify court rules on domestic violence
IT IS a matter of urgency that the District and Circuit Court rules under the new Domestic Violence Act need to be enacted as in their absence judges, solicitors, barristers and courts staff are being left in a difficult position according to the Law Society.
Keith Walsh, family law solicitor and chair of the Law Society’s Family and Child Law Committee claims that the new legislation which came into force on January 1 this year also requires updated rules at District and Circuit Court level.
“The vast majority of applications for safety orders and other measures take place in the District Court. Family law solicitors in Cork and across Ireland acting for vulnerable clients in these distressing situations would normally rely on a set of procedures contained in the District Court Rules in order to make these applications quickly and correctly,” he said.
However, the new rules required as a result of the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act 2018 have not been published, leaving solicitors, barristers, court staff and judges in a difficult position.
Mr Walsh explains, “For example, the new Act contains an innovative emergency barring order which lasts for eight days. The current District Court rules do not provide for this order being made. Procedural irregularities could prevent emergency orders from being made, potentially with disastrous consequences for victims of domestic violence.”
“There should be no uncertainty about the procedural rules surrounding this new emergency order. In the meantime, an ad-hoc system has been developed, but this simply does not do justice to the victims of domestic violence and is unacceptable,” he said.
Domestic violence creates a heavy burden on the victim, their children, Irish society as a whole and the economy. In 2016 more than 10,000 women received support from domestic violence support services in Ireland, according to Safe Ireland[1].
Mr Walsh said: “We understand that the new rules have been drafted and are simply awaiting final approval. The new legislation was implemented five weeks ago and the new rules must be introduced immediately, or we risk failing the victims of domestic violence,”