Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has spoken on the Child and Family Relationships Bill in the Dáil.

Crowe said that while welcoming the Bill, he is concerned with gaps in it, especially in relation to unmarried fathers. He also stated that Sinn Féin intends to introduce amendments to strengthen the Bill.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“What is considered the ‘Family’ in modern Ireland is very different to how it was traditionally viewed when I was growing up and we need radical and inclusive legislation to reflect this new reality.

“Sinn Féin is welcomes this Bill and recognizes that it will modernize Irish law in relation to children living in many diverse family norms.

“We share concerns around some of the provisions within this Bill and will seek to amend them in an effort to enhance and make this legislation more inclusive to those who have previously been excluded.

“This is not a simple piece of legislation. It has more than 170 sections mainly focusing on extending the guardianship, custody and adoption rights to different types of families.

“Passing this Bill will mean that many children living in non-marital and non-traditional families will now be in a position to enjoy a legal relationship with the person who provides them with day-to-day parental care, whoever that may be.

“This is welcome, positive, and extremely important.

“All of us have been lobbied by groups representing unmarried fathers, and since my time in office many unmarried fathers and the Tallaght Unmarried Fathers group have visited my constituency office to outline their concerns and frustrations under current legislation.

“This Bill opened up a golden opportunity to rectify some of the grossly unfair treatment faced by many unmarried fathers in the law, but sadly that issue has been sidelined brushed aside, ignored, left out.

“Currently, around 24,000 children are born every year with no legal or statuary relationship with their birth fathers.

“In my experience, many parents initially but mistakenly believe that having a father’s name on a birth certificate gives him guardianship rights. This misinformation and misguided belief has had major adverse consequences for many children and their fathers.

“One major flaw worry I see is the cohabitation section of this Bill, where a father has to live with the child’s mother for twelve consecutive months, including at least 3 months after child’s birth to become a legal guardian.  In many cases this is simply not possible and this section doesn’t reflect the reality, especially considering our current housing crisis and high emigration figures.

“There is nothing in the Bill for unmarried fathers aside from this cohabiting for the requisite amount of time. For everyone else they will continue to have to resort to the courts if the mother does not agree to sign a statutory declaration for joint guardianship.

“This is an area that Sinn Féin will certainly seek to strengthen and amend in the coming weeks.”

ENDS