Fathers4Justice call for urgent introduction of Judicial Complaints Panel in Ireland
Campaign group Fathers4Justice (F4J) today called for the introduction of an independent complaints panel in Ireland to deal with judicial misconduct in secret family cases which they say are discriminatory, anti-father and a breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a fair hearing.
F4J Campaign Director Nadine O’Connor said it was ‘extraordinary’ that there was no mechanism for dealing with complaints about judicial misconduct.
In a letter to Mrs O’Connor, Niall Colgan, the private secretary to the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Ms Frances Fitzgerald T.D. said that that legislation to establish a Judicial Council in order to provide an effective mechanism for dealing with complaints against judges is currently being drafted by the Department and that a Bill is expected later this year.
O’Connor says the government response is wholly inadequate, puts the integrity of the justice system at risk, and fails to address current and historical allegations of judicial misconduct which may have caused miscarriages of justice.
She says the situation in family courts is significantly worse as judges operate in-camera, behind closed doors, without any accountability.
F4J say that they have witnessed a number of disturbing incidents at family hearings including:
– Court orders that had been pre-written before the hearing
– Judges preventing a McKenzie Friend (attending with a Litigant in Person) writing notes about the hearing
– The issuing of banning orders without any finding of fact hearing
– A Judge asking a mother in a family case to say how long the banning order should be rather than the Judge determining this
– McKenzie Friends being told to cross-examine witnesses despite not being trained advocates
– Countless cases of discrimination against fathers in secret family hearings
Said Mrs O’Connor, “The integrity of the Irish justice system is at stake. It is unacceptable for judges to deny litigants in person their right to a fair hearing under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
“If the government fails to act with urgency, it is inevitable that a test case will be brought in the European Courts.”
