Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 December 2018
10. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has given consideration to the recommendation by a group (details supplied) that her Department devise a strategy to support unmarried parents in sharing parenting responsibilities; and her views on same. [52425/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has given consideration to the recommendation in the report by Treoir launched two weeks ago on unmarried fathers in Ireland and examination of the barriers to shared parenting. Is she supportive of a strategy for unmarried parents in respect of shared parenting responsibilities?
I thank the Deputy. I welcome the research report prepared by Treoir, which highlights the unique circumstances that unmarried fathers face in sharing parental responsibility.
The report makes a number of recommendations, which are under review by my officials. Under the national planning framework, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, we identified the importance of supporting parents as one of six transformational goals that are central to delivering the best future for children and their families.
As a constituent part of Better Outcomes Brighter Futures, my Department published a high-level policy statement on supporting parents and families in 2015. This statement set out the policy agenda for parenting and family supports. It recognised the diverse range of family configurations in Ireland and the need for supports to be inclusive of all family forms so as to be effective. In addition, I am pleased to confirm that, as promised in First 5, my Department recently established a dedicated parenting support policy unit, which will lead in co-ordinating the direction of parenting support policy and activity across Departments and State agencies. The unit will continue to progress the Department’s engagement with stakeholders, building on the parenting support stakeholder group and subsequent open policy debate held in May.
Given the extent of existing policy under the high level statement and First 5, I have no plans to publish a separate further strategy on parenting. I believe the area is well addressed under our current strategies. I very much support the focus of Treoir’s report. I acknowledge that much of the research to date on parenting arrangements has focused on divorce and separation after marriage. By exploring how unmarried parents who are no longer in a relationship can be supported to maintain shared parenting where it is in the best interests of the child, this report provides a valuable new insight. It reaffirms my belief that the diversity of parenting arrangements needs to be recognised in policy and service development, and my Department will continue to place the real life experiences of children and their families at the core of our work.
I thank the Minister for her response. I acknowledge the financial involvement of the Community Foundation for Ireland, which provided the funding for the report. I also acknowledge the work of Elizabeth Kiely and Robert Bolton in completing the work. On the day of the launch it was harrowing to hear parents discussing their experience. One gentleman in particular spoke about the fact that as an unmarried father he has no rights to his child's report card. If his child got sick while her mother was away he had no right to sign her medical records. A total of 34% of all children in the country are born to single parents but the father's rights are totally and utterly diminished. Fathers do not realise that under guardianship they do not have the right to this information. This is why I am asking about a specific strategy to create awareness to signpost their rights, which would be A start.
I thank the Deputy. I also acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Community Foundation for Ireland. I share this with the Deputy. The point raised by her with regard to the gentleman in her example and other unmarried fathers is important. It is great we have the report that has laid this out clearly. The strategy and work already being developed will take account of this and incorporate it. I ask the Department to look at how it can incorporate attention to this in the context of what it is already doing.
Another example in terms of the work of the Department is our support for a way to ensure separated parents, and particularly fathers, are able to have access to their children. The Deputy is aware of Time 4 Us in her constituency. In the 2019 Estimates we have committed additional funding of €100,000 to ensure its service continues to provide a play centre where children can meet their parents in situations where one parent does not live in the family home.
I acknowledge the support the Department has given to Time 4 Us, which plays a huge role in the county. While the Department is developing all the strategies we also need a cross-departmental approach, involving the Departments of Justice and Equality, Education and Skills, Health and Employment Affairs and Social Protection. We have to work to change the language because the language used by all the Departments is a barrier for unmarried parents, and I am speaking specifically about unmarried fathers. They do not realise what rights they do not have until it is too late. This is the information we are struggling to get out to unmarried fathers. They do not realise it until it is far too late that they have no rights. This is why I am asking the Department, with or without a strategy, to work with Departments to enable some of the recent report of the Law Reform Commission to be introduced.
The Deputy has made excellent points and I will bring them back to the Department. As the Deputy knows, the First 5 strategy is whole-of-Government and cross-departmental. It is within this context I have been answering that new strategies and support for parents will operate. The Deputy is right that we need to take a look at working across Departments. I share with the Deputy the concerns of those fathers and the need for the support of the State in new ways, if we can find what those ways are. The resource report offers us some evidence to help us to do this. It will enable us to deal with the inequalities between women and men, particularly in the context of parenting where we need that equality and the sharing of caring responsibility to enable us to work, men as well as women, in the public as well as the private sphere.
