The Equality Authority has said that unmarried fathers should be given the rights of guardianship automatically on .jpg)
the birth of their children.
They made the recommendation in a submission in response to the Law Reform Commission’s (LRC) consultation paper, Legal Aspects of Family Relationships [1], which is looking at the lack of rights attaching to unmarried fathers.
The authority also recommended the introduction of provisions to allow for the conferral of parental responsibility on people who have a de facto parenting role in a child’s life, such as the new spouses or civil partners of biological parents.
The Iona Institute has also made a submission [2] on the same issue.
Currently, unmarried fathers have no automatic guardianship rights regarding their children, except the right to apply for guardianship. Guardianship confers many of the rights of married parents, including the right to be consulted on key decisions in a child’s life. Currently unmarried mothers are given guardianship status automatically.
The authority said parental responsibility should automatically be conferred on all fathers regardless of marital status, according to a report in the Irish Times.
The LRC’s consultation paper examines how the law should approach the rights and responsibilities of fathers, step-parents, grandparents and other members of the extended family, while taking into account the best interests and welfare of children.
In its submission to the paper, the authority claimed Irish law at present failed to recognise the responsibilities of a number of important people in the child’s life.
Angela Kerins, the Chairwoman of the Equality Authority, said increasing numbers of children were being raised outside marriage, especially by cohabiting couples and in single parent families.
The authority said as a matter of principle, an unmarried father should be granted automatic guardianship on the birth of his child.
But a mechanism should also be provided for the removal of parental responsibility in exceptional circumstances.
The authority also recommended the introduction of provisions to allow for the conferral of parental responsibility on people who have a de facto parenting role in a child’s life, such as the new spouses or civil partners of biological parents.
In contrast, in its consultation document, the LRC acknowledged that granting automatic guardianship to unmarried fathers was a possibility, but provisionally recommended that the distinction between birth registration and the allocation of guardianship/parental responsibility should remain.
The authority also recommended the introduction of provisions to allow for the conferral of parental responsibility on people who have a de facto parenting role in a child’s life, such as the new spouses or civil partners of biological parents.
It called for the introduction of paternity leave for fathers and for a mother to have the right to voluntarily assign a portion of her maternity leave to her spouse or partner.
Access to children by wider family members, such as grandparents, should also be addressed, the authority said.