I support this motion and Deputy Gibney's proposed amendment. At its core, it is about something very simple and that is whether justice in our family courts is visible, whether it is accountable, and most important of all, whether it is fair to the people who depend upon it the most. Right now, those who have depended upon it and been failed by the system are very clearly telling us that it is not. We have built a system that operates behind closed doors justified in the name of privacy, but what the research and lived testimonies have shown us is that secrecy is not protecting people in the way that it should. That secrecy is isolating and compounding trauma. The 2025 review of the in camera rule makes that very clear. Parents do not understand what they are allowed to say. Many feel silenced. Many feel that they cannot even seek support. When people feel shut out of a system that is making life-altering decisions about their children, trust will inevitably collapse. We also know from research that there is widespread concern about the lack of transparency, inconsistency in decision-making and barriers to accessing support. I wish to acknowledge something that brought this home in a very real way for all of us on the justice committee last week, when Margaret Loftus appeared before the committee and gave one of the most powerful testimonies that many of us have heard. She spoke at length about what she was put through in search of justice. Everybody in the House should watch her testimony. If the Minister has not seen it, he should go back and have a look. When she was asked about the one thing she would change in the system, her answer was simple - she said she would change the in camera rule. She said it was having a detrimental impact upon victims of domestic abuse and is no longer fit for purpose. That stopped me in my tracks and I hope it would stop anyone else. When somebody who has lived through what she has lived through, as well as so many other survivors, tells us that the rules that are meant to protect them are actually silencing them, we have to listen and break that silence. Her experience alone is a damning indictment of where we are, but it is also reflected in so many other testimonies and lived experiences.

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