Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2024-04-17
============================================================

Bernard Durkan (FG), Kildare North

I raise again the issue of the use of parental alienation in family law in this country. It continues apace and results in the exclusion of children and parents from the family home with the clear objective of winning the case by using a legal formula that is not the creation of this House but that of case law. In many cases, parents, mostly mothers, are prevented from seeing or speaking to their children, other than by telephone. This is an appalling situation in which no regard is being shown for the welfare of the children. We passed a referendum in this country on the rights of the child. The Minister is about to change the rules. They need to be strong and firm and stamp out this practice. I ask that this be done soon.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-04-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-04-17