Ms Helen Coughlan:

As for the issue of fathers, very little research has been done on how fathers are treated in the family law system. We would call for proper research to be done to ascertain the exact position. Anecdotally, it seems to be that the perception is that fathers do not get a fair crack of the whip. We need more research and data to see how they are treated. Following on from that, it comes back to what we are also advocating, namely, that there is a need for specialist judges and for judges to be trained. Society has changed. The role a father would have had 20 or 30 years ago could be very different to the role a father has now. We do not know whether that is being reflected in court orders in respect of maintenance and especially access so we need some research on it.