Mayo march 'a powerful statement that people want change in the family law court system'
A grassroots campaign calling for a family court system that is “transparent, trauma-informed and trustworthy” held a walk in Castlebar on Sunday, with the Mayo organiser, Margaret Loftus, telling The Mayo News that the response has started a national conversation about reform.
The Walk In Our Shoes 2026 campaign, which is backed by domestic abuse advocate and former garda Margaret Loftus, its Mayo co-ordinator, saw people walk simultaneously across all 26 counties of the Republic at 11am last Sunday, carrying children's shoes in what organisers described as a “silent and dignified act of solidarity.”
Organisers stress the walk was not a protest, but a peaceful gesture of recognition and support for families and children who have experienced the family court system. Ms Loftus said Mayo recorded the highest turnout of any county.
She said people walked in 26 counties because the family law court system in Northern Ireland is different.
"The turnout was a powerful statement that people want change in the family law court system," Ms Loftus said. "It just showed how deeply, deeply this issue does resonate with people.”
There was cross-party representation at the walk as Fine Gael Minister of State, Alan Dillon, Senator Mark Dillon and Cllr Donna Sheridan, joined with Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh, Aontú TD Paul Lawless and Fianna Fáil Cllr Brendan Mulroy.
The campaign is calling for the abolition, or total reform, of the “in camera” rule, which restricts reporting and public access in family court proceedings. It also wants the courts to recognise domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and address it accordingly.
Ms Loftus was clear that the campaign is not targeting individuals within the system. “This is not an attack on judges. This is not an attack on the legal profession,” she said. “It's the system that is the problem.”
“Out of everything that I've been through, the family law court system was the most brutal element of the entire thing.”
Central to the campaign is a demand for mandatory fact-finding hearings whenever any type of abuse is alleged. Ms Loftus pointed to the UK, where she said judges hold such a hearing to determine risks to children before making any orders.
She argued that the Irish system fails to take abuse into account when making child-related orders, and that parental contact rights are prioritised over the safety of the child. “Children also have rights, and a parental right to contact should never supersede human rights of that child,” she said.
“Fewer choices, fewer opportunities to speak out”
Ms Loftus said she was particularly moved by the number of older women who attended the walk in Castlebar.
“They came and told me that they had lived through different times themselves when they had fewer choices, fewer opportunities to speak out,” she said. She said they told her they were walking for future generations of women, and because they now could.
She said she was also surprised by the number of people who had never been through the family courts but had been following the campaign. “They're like, this is terrible,” she said.
Many of those present, she added, are currently within the system. Ms Loftus, who has spoken of her own experience, described the family law court system as “the most brutal element” of everything she went through.
She said she hoped Sunday offered “a glimmer of light” to those in the midst of proceedings, and cited a UK study published at the end of last year which she said found that more women who are victims of domestic abuse and involved in the family courts die by suicide than homicide. “That is always at the forefront of my mind, to give hope and to empower people who are in that at the moment,” she said. “It is not their fault.”
A further national walk will take place in Dublin on Wednesday, September 30. Participants will assemble at the Four Courts at 11.30am before departing at noon for Leinster House .
Ms Loftus said the campaign has no intention of stopping there. “This isn't by any means over, and it won't be over until I see meaningful reform,” she said. “We'll keep going.” Another event is planned for Mayo before Christmas.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme