Registration bill downgrades the status of fathers

THE Civil Registration Bill 2003 which is before the Dáil basically absolves unmarried fathers from the obligation to give any information at the birth registration of their child.

Some people have already proclaimed this legal State-sponsored absolution of paternal responsibility as a lads’ charter, giving feckless fathers the all-clear to do a runner.

This presumption that unmarried fathers are inherently uncommitted is a gross insult to all fathers.