Groups supporting unmarried parents have called for urgent reform of the law on the guardianship rights of single fathers.

UNMARRIED cohabiting couples may now apply for maintenance, property, pension or inheritance rights if the relationship ends, under new civil partnership laws.

THE Law Reform Commission is expected to recommend that grandparents be allowed to apply for guardianship of their grandchildren later this year.

UNMARRIED parents who live together are being forced to pay more income tax than their married counterparts yet if they find themselves on benefits, they are treated like a married couple and have fewer individual entitlements.

THE NATIONAL Federation of Services for Unmarried Parents has backed the Minister for Social Welfare’s controversial statement that the current one-family payment is not working.

THE most awkward question a child can ask is not always where they come from — sometimes it is who they come from.

Irish mothers who refuse to believe their cherished sons have fathered illegitimate children are among the most popular users of DNA paternity services, it was revealed today.

RICHARD McMANUS is one of the lucky ones. In fact, as he says himself, "I couldn't be luckier."

ADULTS who were born outside of marriage need a service to help them find their fathers, Treoir, the national federation for unmarried parents and their children said yesterday.

ONE-in-three children born in Ireland yearly do not have the right to knowledge of, or contact with, their fathers, a lobby group has claimed.

Ireland could soon be ready for UK-style civil partnerships, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight.

PARENTS should avoid doing paternity tests through the internet as many of these laboratories aren’t approved and results may not be reliable for use in court.