300 SILENCED VOICES CAMPAIGN

Irish family court failures must be brought into the light.

Right to Transparency is calling on 300 mothers who believe they have experienced serious systemic failures within the Irish family justice system to come forward and share their experiences.

For too long, mothers have reported feeling silenced, disbelieved or unable to speak openly about what happened during family law proceedings. Concerns about domestic abuse, coercive control and children’s safety can become hidden behind closed doors, leaving families isolated and preventing the public from seeing recurring patterns across different cases.

One experience may be treated as an isolated case.

Three hundred documented experiences can help reveal a system-wide pattern.

Your voice can help us build the evidence needed to bring these concerns before the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

click here to share your testimony

What is the 300 Silenced Voices campaign?

The 300 Silenced Voices campaign is a national call for testimony led by Right to Transparency.

Our goal is to gather approximately 300 distinct testimonies from mothers who believe they and their children have been failed during Irish family law proceedings.

These testimonies will help identify recurring concerns, including:

Domestic abuse and coercive control not being properly recognised
Safety concerns being dismissed, minimised or inadequately investigated
Children’s voices, wishes or welfare not being given sufficient consideration
Information or supporting material being ignored or handled inappropriately
Mothers being disbelieved or blamed after raising concerns about abuse
Concerns about court-appointed experts or assessments
Barriers to accessing reports, records or important information
Excessive delays and serious procedural failures
Financial, psychological or legal barriers to meaningful participation
Family court proceedings being used to continue post-separation abuse
Decisions resulting in mothers losing contact with their children

Every experience is different. By bringing these testimonies together, we aim to identify failures being reported repeatedly across different families, courts and professionals.

Why are we gathering 300 voices?

Family law proceedings are largely held in private. This is intended to protect children and families, but it can also make it extremely difficult to identify, investigate and publicly discuss systemic problems.

When each person is viewed separately, their experience can be dismissed as an individual grievance.

When hundreds of people report similar problems, a much clearer picture begins to emerge.

By gathering approximately 300 distinct accounts, we aim to establish a credible body of evidence that can be analysed for repeated patterns and presented within a wider legal and human rights framework.

This is about showing the scale of the problem.

It is about creating an official record.

It is about ensuring that the experiences of mothers and children can no longer be so easily overlooked.

What is a CAT Shadow Report?

A CAT Shadow Report is an independent submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, providing evidence that may not be reflected in the Irish Government’s official reporting.

Our report will bring together the experiences of 300 mothers to document alleged systemic failures within Ireland’s family justice system and their impact on mothers and children.

If the Committee finds reliable, well-founded indications of systematic torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, it may open a confidential inquiry into Ireland. If the concerns are upheld, the Committee can issue findings and urgent recommendations to the Irish Government and seek evidence of the action taken in response.

This is an opportunity to place these failures on the international record and demand meaningful change.

Why international scrutiny matters

Ireland has international human rights obligations.

When serious concerns are not adequately addressed at a national level, international reporting provides another route through which civil society can document what is happening and seek meaningful scrutiny.

A Shadow Report does not decide individual family law cases, overturn court orders or guarantee a particular outcome. Its purpose is to show what is happening across many cases and ask international experts to examine whether Ireland is meeting its human rights obligations.

It can place evidence on an international record, support recommendations for reform and strengthen calls for accountability at home.

Other countries have already seen survivors and advocates bring concerns about family court practices into national and international debate.

It is time for Ireland to step up.

FOR CHILDREN

Children can be profoundly affected by decisions made during family law proceedings.

The state is failing in its international obligation to protect children from inhumane and degrading treatment, and on many occasions the family courts place the children in harms way due to unsafe decision-making.

We want this to change

FOR MOTHERS

FOR CHILDREN

Many mothers enter the family justice system seeking safety but leave feeling disbelieved, blamed or silenced. This campaign provides a confidential way to document their experiences, including the devastating impact of losing contact with their children, without requiring them to speak publicly.

FOR JUSTICE

FOR CHILDREN

FOR JUSTICE

Justice requires transparency and accountability. The 300 Silenced Voices campaign will document recurring failures, examine whether the system adequately recognises domestic abuse and protects children, and build the evidence needed to demand reform.

Who can contribute?

We want to hear from you if:

You are a mother who has been involved in family law proceedings in Ireland
You believe serious concerns about domestic abuse, coercive control or safety were not properly addressed
You believe your child’s voice, welfare or safety was overlooked
You experienced significant procedural, evidential or transparency failures
You felt unable to participate meaningfully or obtain important information
You believe your experience may help reveal a wider systemic problem

You do not need to be certain that your experience meets a particular legal definition before contacting us.

You can share what happened, and the campaign team will determine how your account may contribute to the evidence-gathering process.

CLICK HERE TO SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY

Your privacy and consent

We understand that sharing an experience involving family law proceedings can feel frightening and deeply personal.

You will not be asked to publish your story on social media or identify yourself publicly.

Information provided for this campaign will be handled according to the campaign’s privacy, consent and evidence-review procedures. Personally identifying details will not be published without clear and informed permission.

Because family law proceedings are subject to strict privacy and reporting rules, contributors must not publish identifying information about children or private proceedings on social media.

The submission process will explain:

What information we are collecting
Why we are collecting it
How it will be stored and reviewed
Who may have access to it
How anonymised information may be used
Whether you can withdraw your consent
How we will protect the identities of children and families

Please read this information carefully before submitting your experience.

What happens after you submit?

Your experience will become part of a wider evidence-review process.

Submissions may be:

Reviewed for completeness and relevance
Categorised according to the failures or concerns described
Examined alongside other submissions to identify recurring patterns
Anonymised before being included in campaign analysis
Used to inform the findings and recommendations of the proposed CAT Shadow Report

Where clarification is needed, the campaign team may contact you using the details and permissions you provide.

Submitting an experience does not create a solicitor-client relationship, replace legal advice or guarantee that an individual case will be investigated or reopened.

Its purpose is to help document the wider system.

Your experience is evidence

What happened to you matters.

Your experience may reflect something that has happened to many other mothers but has never been properly counted, connected or acknowledged.

By adding your voice, you can help us:

Identify repeated systemic failures
Expose the real impact of family court practices
Create a permanent and credible record
Centre the experiences of mothers and children
Seek international scrutiny
Strengthen the demand for transparency and reform

You have been silenced for long enough.

Add your voice to the record.

CLICK.HERE TO SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY

Support the campaign

You can support 300 Silenced Voices even if you are not making a submission.

Share the campaign with someone who may wish to contribute
Send the information privately to relevant support networks
Ask an organisation or public representative to support the call for evidence
Help us ensure that mothers throughout Ireland know that their experiences matter

Please share responsibly. Never pressure anyone to disclose their experience or identify a child or family involved in private proceedings.

300 SILENCED VOICES CAMPAIGN

Irish family court failures must be brought into the light.

What is the 300 Silenced Voices campaign?

FOR CHILDREN

FOR CHILDREN

FOR CHILDREN

FOR MOTHERS

FOR CHILDREN

FOR CHILDREN

FOR JUSTICE

FOR CHILDREN

FOR JUSTICE

Who can contribute?

Your privacy and consent

What happens after you submit?

Your experience is evidence

Support the campaign

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