Family law experts and those working with children at risk have painted a bleak picture of children's experience of the legal system before the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
Today's hearing was part of a series that will form the basis of a report by the committee.
Chair of the Law Society's Family and Child Law Committee Keith Walsh said there was agreement that the current family law system was broken and there was an urgent need for a specialist division to be established.
Mr Walsh told members that no resources have been allocated to give effect to the voice of the child in recent legislation.
"So we have a Rolls Royce piece of legislation with basically no resources attached to it," he said.
He also raised concerns about the buildings where family law cases are heard, recalling an incident in December where a Circuit Court Judge in Phoenix House Dublin was taken hostage along with a lawyer and client.
He also said the "environment and atmosphere" in the Bridewell Courts, where care applications are sometimes heard, was completely unsuitable.
Representatives of the Children's Rights Alliance also raised serious concerns about the structure of the courts system.
Saoirse Brady of the Alliance said: "Despite the fact that most proceedings involving children are subject to the in camera rule, a large number of court facilities still lack basic privacy.
"From consultations with lawyers, we know that legal advice is sometimes provided in hallways and stairwells, rather than child-friendly consultation rooms."
Cliona Sadléar of Rape Crisis Network Ireland said there was a prosecution rate of just 4% in child sexual violence cases, and 62% of cases for those under 13 are reported as being perpetrated by family members.
She said it can be expected that a significant proportion of custody cases in the family courts involve the rape and sexual abuse of children by family members in the absence of a parallel criminal conviction.
She said: "For many of these families, where a child discloses incest, some but not all, will result in the family breaking up. This can be expected to be a highly acrimonious situation which are likely to escalate into the private family courts".
Ms Sadléar called for the Courts Service to publish statistics on how many private family law cases involve allegations of child sexual violence.
Dr Conor O'Mahony, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law in UCC, said there was an "uneven and patchwork approach" as to whether children get to participate in family law proceedings.
He said whether a child gets a chance to be heard depends on "what the case is about, where it is being heard, which judge is hearing it, and who is paying the costs", adding that this was "a far cry from what the Constitution states should happen".
Dr O'Mahony also said the establishment of a specialist family court did not require constitutional amendment, as has been suggested, and it could be established by way of ordinary legislation.
Mr Walsh also raised concerns about the rights of fathers, saying the current access model does not necessarily work for fathers and children and called for further research on access arrangements.
"The model of every second weekend with an overnight on a Wednesday is kind of the standard default access for fathers in a lot of cases," Mr Walsh said, adding that accommodation problems can cause genuine hardship.
