Call to change ‘family’ definition

SINGLE-PARENT families should be afforded the same respect and value as two-parent families under the constitution, the One Family group has urged.

Currently, half a million people in Ireland live in a one-parent family and the national support organisation believes the Constitution is no longer valid and is completely out of touch with reality. One Family’s call for the constitutional change was timed to coincide with the national support organisation’s celebration of International Day of the Family that takes place today.

International Day of the Family is a UN initiative reflecting the need to respect the rights and values of all families. In Ireland, family is still defined through judicial interpretation to mean the family based on marriage.

One Family director Karen Kiernan said it was extremely important that one-parent families were recognised as strong family units and the organisation was calling on the Government to change the constitution to reflect this.

She claimed that married families were given the highest respect and value in the Constitution, often at the expense of lone parents and families that might be at a greater risk of poverty.

“It is imperative the constitution gives equal respect and values to families where people are parenting alone or sharing parenting. It is all about equality for all families and, particularly, all children,” she said.

* www.onefamily.ie