Secrecy of family courts

Madam, - John Waters is to be commended for his incisive column of August 14th, "In the name of the father"

Madam, - John Waters is to be commended for his incisive column of August 14th, "In the name of the father". Mr Waters is one of the few Irish journalists who continually draw public attention to the "brutality of family courts".

It is time that the "in camera" status of family court hearings was removed. It serves no useful purpose, except to hide the misery, character assassination and unbalanced family, financial and property-related decisions that characterise their clandestine proceedings. - Yours, etc,

GERRY COBURN, Parkmore Drive, Terenure, Dublin 6W.