Sir, - The Courts Service notes with concern the contents of John Waters's column of January 15th. Specifically, we dispute the imputation that the staff of the family law courts are anything other than impartial, professional and helpful to all users of the courts. This is the case regardless of the gender, race or religion of the court user.
Family law courts do not operate in secrecy; rather, they ensure confidentiality for all those involved in cases. Indeed, we have recently published statistics regarding family law matters which were reported in your newspaper. We are also in the process of establishing a pilot project to record and publish judgments and statistics from the family law courts, while maintaining the anonymity of the litigants.
Court staff dealing with family matters have considerable experience in dealing with unrepresented court users and afford them every assistance when dealing with their cases, whether they be applicants or respondents. It is certainly untrue to say that the court system provides a rubber stamp for the demands of litigants. To say such a thing is to tarnish the name and question the professional integrity of court staff and county registrars. To allow it go unchallenged would be equally as damaging.
The fact of the matter is that in the District Court all draft orders are checked by court staff to ensure that they are in accordance with the order made by the judge, and are all signed by the judge.
In the case of orders made in the Circuit Court the order is either drafted by court staff or a draft is submitted to the court office and checked by the staff. The only concern of court staff when preparing or checking draft court orders is that every order conforms to the note/ record taken of the judge's order. If the order is not as it should be, it is returned for correction.
It is untrue to say that no record is kept of the judge's order. Every order of the judge is recorded in the court clerk's/registrar's minute book of the proceeding.
When the county registrar is satisfied that the order is correct they then sign it. If they are not satisfied that the order is correct and agreement cannot be reached then the matter is returned to the judge for clarification.
The Courts Service regards the area of family law to be a very sensitive one. It is our aim to maintain a sense of dignity for those who appear before our family law courts. We are in the process of constructing a 10courtroom, purpose-built Family Law Centre in Dublin, which will have excellent facilities for court users to consult lawyers and have their children taken care, with separate refreshment areas for both parties.
We are at present reviewing all aspects of family law administration through a committee of the Courts Service Board.
The Courts Service is fully committed to the process of review and improvement and we commit ourselves to achieving any necessary change as soon as possible. We do, however, express concern and reject the accusatory tone of Mr Waters's article.
Finally, we note that it is extremely unlikely that the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Ronan Keane, would have been thinking along the lines which Mr Waters attaches to his recent interview. - Yours, etc.,
Gerry Curran, Media Relations Service, The Courts Service, Green Street, Dublin 7.