Brennan calls for support for fathers
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs Seamus Brennan has called for support services and family law courts to be more sensitive towards the rights of fathers, it emerged today.
Mr Brennan was speaking after the launch of a new report, Strengthening Families Through Fathers which called for paternity pay and parental leave for fathers and for family law courts to be more father-friendly.
Mr Brennan said the study’s findings were a valuable contribution to broadening our understanding of the role of fathers in an ever-changing and challenging society.
He added: “It is important to respond in a measured and positive way to new trends and relationships emerging in relation to the father’s role in the family.”
Mr Brennan said the report showed that many men felt they were viewed as “dangerous and non-nurturing” and excluded from child protection and family support services.
The report was completed under the Government’s Family Research Programme which is co-funded by the Department of Social & Family Affairs and the Family Support Agency (FSA).
FSA chairman Michael O’Kennedy suggested the all-party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution may re-examine the definition and role of fathers in the family.
He added: “I think the family law courts are gradually evolving in their understanding and opening their minds to the rights of fathers.”
The 200-page report, compiled by academics Professor Harry Ferguson and Fergus Hogan, draws on interviews with 24 fathers, 10 mothers, 11 children and nine social workers.
Fergus Hogan, who gave a brief presentation of the report at its official launch today, said: “Fathers need to be allowed to spend more time with their children and not just be ‘McDonalds dads’ at weekends.”
Mr Brennan said he would ensure that his department’s services and family law courts became more sensitive to the rights of vulnerable fathers.
“We should be putting in place a means by which young men are encouraged to get involved with their partner and child, not deterred. We shouldn’t fall into the assumptions that exclusion is better than inclusion,” he said.
The Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland said tonight that the focus of the report was too narrow and called for more ongoing studies.
Spokesman Ray Kelly said: “This is only the tip of the iceberg. We need much more research like this and to see it implemented into government policy.”
Mr Kelly claimed there were over 150,000 fathers without regular access to their children in Ireland.
He added: “Denying access rights to fathers leads to anger, loneliness, depression and suicide in some cases.”
