Sir, - I was delighted to read the recent letter from Mary Banotti, MEP, in The Irish Times expressing her support for the concept of joint custody of children in the event of marital breakdown. Her enlightened view on this matter, which is apparently informed by her work as EC President's Mediator on abducted children, brings a new dimension to. this debate. Her views, based on her experiences, add further to the overwhelming body of evidence that the prevailing practice in Irish courts of awarding sole custody to mothers is unjust to fathers, and harmful to children.
It is almost beyond belief that fathers and children should suffer such injustices due to outdated views of parents' roles in our brave, new, tolerant, liberal and enlightened Ireland. The fact that in over 90 per cent of court cases "sole custody" is granted to mothers shows that those responsible for administering justice are totally out of touch with the reality of parenthood today. The vast majority of fathers nowadays play a full and active role in the upbringing of their children - this includes many unmarried fathers in steady relationships as well.
It is morally wrong that when such relationships or marriages end, the father's role in the lives of his children is reduced to such an extent that he becomes, at best, an avuncular figure on the periphery of his family. The destruction of the father/children relationship does not only apply in exceptional circumstances, but is standard practice when custody disputes are referred to courts for settlement.
It is even more disturbing that our home based politicians refuse to recognise that this injustice exists. In a reply to a recent Daily question, it was suggested by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Mervyn Taylor TD, that "the granting of custody to one parent and access to the other parent" is "the arrangement which seems to work well in most situations". This is absolute nonsense! It is this evil practice which gives credence to the infamous "Hello Divorce, Bye Bye Daddy" poster.
In the same reply, the Minister stated that he was updating the law in relation to children, including guardianship. While under the law custody and guardianship are separate concepts, in practice the ending of custodial rights and obligations in effect means the ending of guardianship rights and obligations. The ending of a marital relationship should not mean the ending of custody/guardianship and Minister Taylor, who received such praise for introducing divorce, has an inescapable responsibility in this regard. - Yours, etc.,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.