Fathers’ lobby group Flimkien Missirijiet Inqumu (FMI) has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Ministry of Justice, Equality and Governance to the effect that legal aid capping in civil cases will be raised to €13,000 annual income.
In a statement on Wednesday, FMI noted with ”particular satisfaction” that this long overdue welfare reform now takes into account child support as well as rent, meaning that more financially drained fathers embattled in court proceedings will benefit from this aid instead of having to choose between preserving contact with their children via expensive necessary lawyer’s fees or feeding themselves and keeping a roof over their head.”
FMI however maintained that ”victims of the current family laws and their haphazard application in courts of justice where gender discrimination is an open secret would benefit much more from a legal presumption of 50-50 shared parenting time, greater deterrents to parental alienation, and timely justice.”
FMI stated that its recommendations would not only ”empower victims but also alleviate strain on a grossly overburdened system. As things currently stand, more accessible free Legal Aid is little better than a band-aid on a severed arm.”
The association invited parents who are suffering ex-marital abuse and gender prejudice by the courts to get in touch by email on fmimaltahelp@gmail.com [1] or through the association’s Facebook page. [2]