Brennan promises to protect fathers’ rights

NO Santa’s bag of tricks can end the isolation and exclusion felt by fathers over Ireland’s family laws, it was claimed yesterday.

Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan said research showed many men were barred from parenting by a system they saw as sexist and anti-father. He told a fathers’ rights conference in Dublin he was committed to sensible reform of the one-size-fits-all approach to family legislation.

The minister said he wanted to deliver a social and welfare system which met the needs of the individual, rather than being guided by rules and regulations that blurred the real purpose of the law.