Sir, - I refer to your editorial on 20th May regarding the Report of the Commission on the Family. I too welcome most of the Commission's main recommendations but I would like to comment on your statement ". . . the extension of the family mediation service throughout the State would save an enormous amount of bitterness and conflict when couples are separating and would do so at a cost of £1.6 million per annum".
In theory, what you say is correct. However, allocating more resources will not in itself bring about a more effective mediation service. In practice, the mediation service is severely undermined by the bias, the inequality and the predictability of the court system.
There is no incentive for women to engage in meaningful mediation unless they are truly concerned about the best interests of their children, which, unfortunately, is not a high priority with many women in such circumstances. They know that in the bitter adversarial court system they will get sole custody of the children and consequently the family home and most of the family income.
The man will end up living in poverty in a squalid bedsitter, supporting his wife and children in the family home (including paying the mortgage) with a form of access to his children that will render his fatherhood meaningless. This is as much an abuse of children's rights as it is of fathers' rights.
Unless there is a radical and rapid reform of the family court system, the mediation service will never achieve its full potential. - Yours, etc., Michael Stephens,
Tallaght, Dublin 24.