Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 26 Oct 2000

Vol. 525 No. 1

Written Answers. - Proposed Legislation.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

Policy in our law on guardianship is contained in the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964, the Status of Children Act, 1987 and the Children Act, 1997. Prior to commencement of the Act of 1997, the position was that an unmarried father could acquire guardianship rights if he subsequently married the mother or if he applied to the court under section 6A of the Act of 1964 – as inserted by the Status of Children Act, 1987 – to become a joint guardian.

The law in this area was the subject of review in the course of preparation of the Bill which led to the Act of 1997. That Bill was the subject of detailed debate in the course of its passage through the House. The Act of 1997, which came into force in January 1998, makes it possible for a father who has not married the mother of his child to acquire joint guardianship rights by agreement with the mother of his child without having to go to court. In addition, it inserted new provisions in the Act of 1964 to specify that the court has discretion whether or not to order joint custody.

In the course of passage of the Bill, amendments which I put forward strengthened it in the area of guardianship, custody and access with a provision that the court, in settling disputes in relation to children, must have regard to whether the child's best interests would be served by maintaining personal relations and direct contact with both his or her father and mother on a regular basis. That provision was inspired by a provision in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

There are no proposals to further amend the law in this area, although I can say that its operation continues to be kept under review.