THE terms of reference of the Commission on the Family are to raise public awareness and improve understanding of issues affecting families to examine the effects of legislation and policies on families, and make recommendations to the Government on proposals which would strengthen the capacity of families to carry out their functions in a changing economic and social environment to analyse recent economic and social changes affecting the position of families, taking account of relevant research already carried out.
The commission is chaired by Dr Michael Dunne from Cork, a GP and former chairman of the Irish College of General Practitioners.
Its other members are Dr Tim Callan, senior research officer, ESRI; Dr Michael Fitzgerald, senior lecturer in psychiatry, TCD; Ms Yvonne Jacobson, relationship counsellor, Dublin; Cllr Catherine Murphy, Co Kildare; Ms Marie Therese Naismith, AIM Group, Dublin; Ms Gemma Rowley, Treoir (Federation of Services for Unmarried Parents and their Children), Dublin; Ms Clare Tuohy, psychiatric social worker, Dublin; Ms Bridin Twist, president, ICA; Ms Anne Waters, president, Waterford Society of St Vincent de Paul; Mr John Hurley, Department of Equality and Law Reform; Mr Noel Usher, Department of Health; Ms Deirdre O'Keeffe, Department of Education and Ms Deirdre Carroll, Department of Social Welfare.