A silent protest through the streets of Dublin City Centre has heard calls for “transparency and accountability” in the Irish family courts.
Thirty of the women wore matching Handmaids uniforms and white masks marked with a red X across the mouth as they gathered at St. Stephen’s Green before marching through the streets of Dublin. Around 80 people in total took part in the protest.
Organisers said: “This striking image represents the stark reality of hundreds of families across Ireland: a system that strips away a child’s voice and leaves protective parents completely isolated under the threat of severe legal consequences.”
They also said the uniforms symbolised powerful institutions exercising control over women and their families, “regulating their lives and restricting their ability to speak.”
“The protesters used that imagery as political street theatre to represent women who say they too have experienced institutional power and silencing within the Irish family-justice system,” said organisers.
The demonstration, which took place on Sunday, saw mothers hold signs which read: “Irish Family Courts – break the silence.”
“Please help us get this message worldwide,” posters urged.
The protesters are calling for reform of the in-camera rule while preserving children’s anonymity; greater publication of anonymised family-law judgments; clear professional standards and financial transparency around family-law assessments; effective procedures for challenging materially flawed expert evidence; meaningful opportunities for cross-examination where required by fair procedures; clear separation between expert evidence and judicial decision-making; proper consideration of children’s voices; and greater scrutiny of how domestic abuse and coercive control are addressed in post-separation proceedings.
Some of the women involved in the campaign are mothers who have not seen their children in a number of years after they were taken away by the family courts. One such case in the UK from the beginning of the year involved a mother who did not see her children for nearly six years, but was reunited with her son after the flawed evidence used in her case was overturned.
Lawyers told the High Court in February that an assessment by an unregulated psychologist led to “extraordinary” and “draconian” orders that effectively terminated her relationship with her children. A district judge followed the recommendations of the psychologist Melanie Gill, which included that the mother had turned her daughter and son against their father and should be banned from seeing them
Gill further advised that there was no need to investigate cross-allegations of domestic abuse by the parents. This meant that claims of serious physical and sexual assault made by the mother against the father were not examined.
Mothers involved in the campaign in Ireland say that similar cases have unfolded here, leaving them powerless.
Earlier this month, as reported in Gript, a High Court judge overturned a District Court order that would have required a 14-year old girl to resume access with her father. Mr Justice Garrett Simons said the earlier hearing was so defective it amounted to a denial of justice.
Organisers of Sunday’s demonstration pointed to the “significant” High Court ruling, saying that it put expert evidence, assessors and the in-camera rule under renewed scrutiny.
In M. (Child Access Arrangements) v F. [2026] IEHC 537, Mr Justice Garrett Simons quashed a District Court order and directed that the matter be reheard before a different judge.
Pat Coyne reported that the court heard the case involved a long-running dispute between the parents. The mother alleged domestic abuse and coercive control. The father denied this, though he accepted convictions for breaching a safety order in 2019 by sending threatening messages.
The child also made allegations, including that her father put his hands around her throat, which he denied.
“A section 32 report under the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 was completed in early 2025, when the girl was twelve. She told the assessor she found her father frightening and did not want fixed access. By the District Court hearing in October 2025, her situation had shifted: she had moved to secondary school, self harmed, voiced suicidal thoughts, begun psychotherapy, and fresh welfare concerns had emerged.
“The expert told the court she had not met the child in a year and could not give a current assessment. Despite this, the District Court judge proceeded without updating the child’s views.
“The mother did not get a proper chance to cross examine the expert. The District Court judge postponed questioning but never restored the opportunity. The expert’s new views, including describing the mother child relationship as “enmeshed”, were then used to assess the mother’s credibility and the child’s opposition to access.”
A spokesperson for the procession explained why participants concealed their identities:
“We are wearing masks because we need to hide our identities because showing our identities means that we could go to prison, as some women in the group have already done. So we are here to highlight some of the horrific acts of abuse that are happening in the Irish family courts, going on for years.”
Campaigners described the August 7th ruling as “powerful” because “concerns about the role, influence and accountability of assessors can no longer be treated simply as criticism from parents dissatisfied with the outcomes of their cases.”
“The High Court has demonstrated in a concrete case that the boundary between expert evidence and judicial decision-making is fundamental to the integrity of the adjudicative process,” they said.
“The ruling does not validate every complaint about an assessor, nor does it mean every previous family-law case can be reopened. What it does establish is that these boundaries matter as a matter of law.
“For the women who were already organising before 7 August, the judgment has changed the context in which their concerns can now be heard.”
Campaigners believe the ruling may have opened a “Pandora’s box” around the use of expert assessments in Irish family proceedings.
“For parents whose cases have depended substantially upon assessments or expert reports, questions arise about whether experts remained within their proper evidential role, whether conclusions were adequately tested, whether materially expanded opinions could be challenged, whether cross-examination was available where required by fair procedures, and whether the ultimate evaluation of the evidence remained with the judge.
“The campaign also wants scrutiny of the assessment system itself.
“That includes greater transparency about how assessors are selected and appointed, how many reports individual assessors produce, what they charge for those reports, the total public and private expenditure on assessments, and who ultimately receives and benefits from those payments.”
The next demonstration will take place on 12 September 2026, with organisers saying that further actions are planned.