Former garda Margaret Loftus, a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-husband and fellow garda Trevor Bolger, has publicly criticised Ireland's family law system for allowing her abuser to continue controlling her while he was permitted to "thrive". Speaking at the launch of Women's Aid's annual impact report — which recorded a 33 per cent rise in reported abuse cases — she told Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan that every time she entered the family law courts her children were "up for grabs", and received a standing ovation. Her account matters because it exposes a gap between Ireland's stated "zero tolerance" of violence against women and how the system operates in practice.

Loftus is calling for mandatory "trauma-informed" training for those working in the judicial system, to stop the courts being used as a "conduit" through which perpetrators can extend their abuse and control. Bolger was found guilty of assaulting his former wife in front of their young children and received a three-month suspended sentence in January. Loftus described enduring 58 court dates, on which she says her abuser was allowed to censor and reword her victim impact statement; the Women's Aid figures represent the highest level of disclosures ever recorded by the organisation, which the minister called "startling and sobering".