Geoffrey Shannon: change view of family life

We have got to change how we see family life, said Dr Geoffrey Shannon, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection and founding patron of the Children’s Rights Alliance.

“This is about half a million children living in families that do not have the protection of the State,” said Dr Shannon at a Children’s Rights Alliance seminar on the Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015.

“Until recently family life in Ireland was synonymous with marriage. The increasing fluidity and diversity of family forms means it is no longer tenable for Irish law to recognise only one type of family,” he said.