Madam, - In his response to my letter of December 10th Muredach Doherty (December 15th) makes another unsubstantiated attack on Amen. This time he claims that Amen is a group "which gives out prejudiced information". Amen has provided a confidential support service to thousands of men, and some women, since we were set up six years ago. I would like to know how he could possibly know what type of information we give out and in what way he deems it to be prejudiced.
I note that Mr Doherty ignores my request that he provide evidence to support his two previous unsubstantiated attacks on Amen , viz. that Amen creates difficulties for all concerned in marriage breakdown and that we create a male dreamland where everyone is at fault except men.
Instead of addressing his unfounded allegations he complains about what he describes as my "generalisation about lawyers". My letter referred to "the approach of some lawyers". A reference to some lawyers is clearly not a generalisation. I should point out that men are regularly referred to us by solicitors and many people in the legal profession support the work we do. There are many who would also agree that some of their colleagues adopt an overly aggressive approach.
Our literature recommends that men seek legal advice and seek protection from the courts.
The misandrist tone of his earlier letters is continued in his latest offering. He talks of some men continuing to "work with the mother to rear their children well" and also of some men creating "constant difficulties for the whole family". He ignores the fact that there are probably as many women who create "constant difficulties for the whole family".
As regards working together to rear children Mr Doherty should be aware that it is primarily mothers who seek to marginalise fathers in their children's lives. Too many women regard the children as their property and their fathers as mere money providers and visitors.
The vast majority of the thousands of custody and access cases coming before the courts consist of mothers seeking to monopolise the parenting role, pushing the fathers to a peripheral position in their children's lives.
If those who govern our society were serious about putting children's interests first they would take measures, such as the "rebuttable presumption of equal parenting" legislation recently enacted in Australia, designed to reduce the number of destructive custody and access cases. No doubt some (but not all) lawyers would be opposed to such measures. -Yours, etc.,
MARY T CLEARY, National Coordinator, Amen, St Anne's Resource Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co. Meath.