Voice of children 'lost' in family law cases, says Rape Crisis Network of Ireland

'It is reasonable to expect that parental alienation ... will be invoked by a parent who has been accused of sexually abusing their child,' said Cliona Saidléar, executive director of RCNI. Picture: RollingNews.ie

The rights of children are not being put “front and centre” of family law cases despite Ireland voting in favour of children’s rights over a decade ago, according to the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland.

The network’s executive director, Cliona Saidléar, says that despite children’s rights being written into the Constitution following the passage of the Children’s Rights Referendum in 2012, the voice of children is still “being lost”.

Ms Saidléar says that the emergence of parental alienation in family law cases is putting the rights of parents before the rights of children.

She says that the results of Government-ordered research into the area will be crucial in progressing the voice of the child in family law cases.

A final report on parental alienation in other jurisdictions is currently being reviewed by the Department of Justice as part of a process examining whether policy or legislative changes are required in Ireland.

Submissions received by the department in response to a consultation process launched a year ago by then-Justice Minister Helen McEntee, on the same issue, are also under review.

The aim of the consultation process was to seek the views of stakeholders and individuals around the issue of parental alienation.

Ms Saidéar says the RCNI is aware, through its work, of parental alienation being used as a tool by abusive parents in family law cases.

Describing it as a “very punishing tool”, she says the RCNI has seen examples of where abusers use it “to essentially continue coercive control and to hide their own criminality and criminalised behaviour”.

“Within that, what you get, of course, is the child being lost," said Ms Saidléar. "We wrote the child’s rights into the Constitution a few years ago and we have yet to see the child being actually put front and centre of all these things. 

Children are human beings in their own rights and they have rights themselves, and have a right to be the centre of their own story and their own protection.” 

In its submission to the consultation process, the RCNI stated: “The Inspectorate Report (December 2017) found that, in 44% of child sexual violence cases processed by the State, the alleged perpetrator was a family member. 

"When we look at the survivors accessing rape crisis centres, the RCNI National Rape Crisis Statistics 2020 found that 60% of all under 13s’ cases of sexual violence against children were reported as perpetrated by family members.” 

The submission raised concern that “it is reasonable to expect that parental alienation, if it is a concept that is readily accepted by the courts and part of the toolkit of assessors, will be invoked by a parent who has been accused of sexually abusing their child”.

The Department of Justice spokesman said the department’s studies of the area will create a deeper understanding of the concept of parental alienation and subsequently inform the department’s consideration of policy and law around it.

He added: “Work is ongoing to integrate these strands of work and prepare a report for the minister outlining the outcome of the research and consultation process and any resulting recommendations to arise from it. 

"Once finalised, it is intended to publish both the research report and the policy paper on the department’s website.” 

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