Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is. For our report, we would look to suggest something radical because the problem here has been that, exactly as Dr. Shannon says, this has been debated for decades. Many good recommendations have been made but there has been no implementation of them. People either did not bother with them, could not care less or it is part of a deeper cultural problem, which is the direction in which I am heading now. If we stood everything on its head and looked at things from a child's perspective, it would simplify many other matters. It feeds into the discussions we have had about custody arrangements and how a 50-50 divide is available only in 1% of cases. How much of that is linked to cultural issues?

I think Mr. Drakeford said that women expect to get the house and the kids. I do not think it is that at all but that we need to address the structural barriers that exist before couples break up, not just after they break up. The reality is that many women have lower wages and are the primary caregiver, or perhaps judges perceive them as being the primary caregivers. It is much more normal for women to work fewer hours and so on. Unless we address all of those issues, we cannot really talk about shared parenting. At our meeting last week, Mr. Damien Peelo referred to shared parenting and stated that it is not equal parenting. He indicated that we need to move away from guardianship and custody to parental responsibility, day-to-day contact, etc.

Much of the culture or the practical issues must, presumably, feed into judges' decision-making. If the woman is already the primary caregiver, the judge will try not to discommode the children. We need to think outside that box also.