Single fathers' rights - Appraisal of custody law long overdue

AN initiative mooted by Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan should provoke a critical appraisal into the outmoded notion that only a woman is suitable to have custody of children in cases where there was no marriage or a broken partnership.

Although the ultimate responsibility to change the relevant legislation lies with Justice Minister Michael McDowell, Mr Brennan has quite rightly brought a focus on an area of family law which is in need of rehabilitation.

What he has prompted in an interview with the Irish Examiner is the concept of equal rights for single fathers, which single mothers already have enshrined for them under the 1964 Guardianship of Infants Act.

He has applied an unjaundiced eye to an area of legislation which has been responsible for untold heartbreak and injustice because it was grounded on a premise which was prejudicial against single fathers.

Mr Brennan is right in his assertion that there should not be an automatic assumption in court cases that the mother is the only parent fully entitled to care for a child.

In the decades since the emergence of the Guardianship of Infants Act, society has changed dramatically and so has the perceived role of men, especially that of single fathers.

There are, of course, men who are indifferent to the care and welfare of their children, but it would appear that the majority of the country's estimated 150,000 separated and single fathers want a role, and a meaningful one, in the rearing of their children.

The minister has sought the views of concerned family support organisations and has committed to a full review of current Government policy, and to that end an inter-departmental report on how best to provide family support will be published early this year.

One aspect which he has been urged to pursue is the ending of the in-camera rule, whereby family law cases are considered by a court in private.

While it is a question for his colleague in Justice, Mr Brennan is correct to oppose such a move.

There is enough trauma involved when people's lives are scrutinised under family law, especially for children, without it being added to by the intrusion of an open court.

Mr Brennan has knocked on a door which can only be opened by Justice Minister McDowell, but it is one which needs to be opened if this gross injustice is to be excised from our family law.