Keith Walsh is principal of Keith Walsh Solicitors, Crumlin. He is vice chair of the Law Society Child & Family Law committee and a former president of the DSBA
News
DSBA Helps to Win the Battle to Save New Family law complex in Hammond Lane Keith Walsh outlines how a campaign for improved facilities for family law court users has finally paid dividends
Pressing Need for a New Family Law Structure
This is a triumph for family lawyers and more importantly, for the users of the family law courts who can look forward to a new system which will be fit for purpose
In 2012 the Chief Justice Susan Denham referred to the need for the establishment of specialist family courts and said ‘over the last 20 years there has been, and there continues to be, a growth in the volume and complexity of family cases. These cases require specialist knowledge and skill in a specialist family court structure, whereby issues arising in family law cases could be addressed in a holistic manner, as appropriate, including access to mediation and to other forms of support’. The Law Society of Ireland in its submission to the Department of Justice in 2014 called for a specialist family court system which included alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and supports for those using the family court system. The 2015 Report of the Courts Service states that it was working with the Department of Justice and Equality on drafting heads of a bill for a new family court system with the input of all relevant stakeholders. The Law Society, the Dublin Solicitors’ Bar Association and the Family Lawyers’ Association have been calling for better facilities for court users of family law and child cases for over 20 years and have been involved in providing detailed submissions and feedback to the court services based on their own experiences and that of their clients.
Good News then Bad News Following this outbreak of consensus in relation to the need for a specialist family law court system, it was announced by the Government in December 2014 that a new state-of-the-art court and dispute resolution complex which would act as a one-stop shop for all family law matters, would be built on the Hammond Lane site, on the Smithfield side of Church Street. The ongoing relocation of the childcare courts from Dolphin House to the Bridewell was designed as a temporary measure pending the completion of the Hammond Lane project which has a budget of €40 million.
At the end of July 2016, the DSBA learned that Dublin City councillors had just voted to re-designate part of the Hammond Lane site as a park. This would have destroyed the proposed new family law complex which was due to house not only the family law courts and offices but equally importantly, was intended to provide a one-stop shop for family law disputes by also facilitating the legal aid board, mediation services, domestic violence supports, facilities for children and hearing the voice of the child and other ancillary services.
A Victory for Court Users The DSBA along with the Court Services delivered detailed submissions to Dublin City Council. The DSBA also undertook a concerted lobbying campaign to highlight to Dublin City councillors and all political parties the loss of opportunity to fix some of the defects in the family law system that would result from the redesignation of the Hammond Lane site. This concerted campaign has taken the considerable time and involved the focussed and sustained effort of DSBA members, its council and President Eamonn Shannon with the help of Kevin O’Higgins, Josepha Madigan T.D., Senator Catherine Ardagh and many Dublin City councillors over the last two months but thankfully the campaign has succeeded. At their meeting to finalise the Dublin City Development Plan on September 23rd, the Dublin City councillors voted to reverse their earlier decision and to permit the Hammond Lane Family Law Complex to proceed without reducing the size of the site. This is a triumph for family lawyers and more importantly, for the users of the family law courts who can look forward to a new system which will be fit for purpose. The Hammond Lane complex which will be funded by a public/private partnership is due to open in 2020. P
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