Single fathers protest at 'bias' in law

A rolling series of protests is planned to take place outside the offices of "relevant Ministers", to highlight legal difficulties faced by unmarried fathers whose relationships with the mothers of their children have broken down.

Ray Kelly, founder of Unmarried Fathers of Ireland, said the family law system needed a "radical overhaul". Unmarried fathers were being deprived of a family life with their children, because of "bias in the system". Under Irish law, he said, unmarried fathers had no automatic guardianship, custody or access rights to their children.

Mr Kelly was speaking at what he described as the first in a series of protests yesterday. A group of unmarried fathers gathered outside the Department of Justice in Dublin and attempted to hand in the presents they said they were unable to give to their children at Christmas.

"We were asking them to deliver the presents because we weren't able to see our children," said Mr Kelly.

Department officials would not take the presents as they said they could not take valuables.

"The system has taken something very valuable from us - our family life," Mr Kelly said. "So next week we will be bringing them to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs [ Séamus Brennan] and the following week to the Minister for Children [ Brian Lenihan]."

Mr Kelly said they were calling for equality. "The family courts totally discriminate against fathers," he added, "especially against unmarried fathers. We do not have any rights."

He said there was a sense that fathers were being punished for all relationship breakdown in the courts, adding that children were also suffering, "because they are being deprived of our love".