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Speaking during the Order of Business in the Seanad on Thursday morning, Senator Sharon Keogan delivered a forceful intervention on what she described as “a deeply troubling issue in our family courts.” She made clear that her remarks arose directly from the Alliance of Birth Mothers Campaigning for Justice briefing for TDs and Senators held in Leinster House on Wednesday, which she attended.

Drawing heavily on the testimony and research presented at that briefing, Senator Keogan told the House that she had heard “harrowing” accounts from the Alliance. She said the group demonstrated how the concept of parent alienation is now “being used as a legal weapon and a tactic to dismiss mothers allegations of child abuse against fathers.” Instead of safeguarding children, she warned, the idea of parent alienation was “branding protective mothers as manipulators and transferring custody to the very parent accused of abuse.”

She stressed that the secrecy of the in camera rule has enabled these injustices. “Advocacy groups and research confirm that the in camera rule silences women and children,” she said. Citing the Alliance briefing directly, she added that what is happening represents “an unbroken chain of State abuse that did not end with the closure of the last mother and baby home.”

Senator Keogan highlighted that parent alienation has “a weak scientific basis,” noting that it is not recognised in the DSM Five and is not accepted as a clinical diagnosis. Yet, she said, “speakers pointed out that Tusla has adopted it uncritically, thereby forcing vulnerable children into the custody of abusive parents. This is an appalling failure and must stop.”

She called for urgent reforms, beginning with the dismantling of the in camera rule. Pointing to recent developments in the United Kingdom, she said that allowing journalists into family courts under strict anonymity rules has produced greater transparency and accountability. “It is time to shine a light on what happens behind closed doors,” she said. Senator Keogan urged the Minister for Justice to act without delay, insisting that “families deserve justice, not secrecy.”