Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I will begin my contribution now and continue when the debate resumes. Deputy Shatter's proposals are sensible, are in the interests of the child and address real issues, particularly the issue of natural mothers having to adopt their own children through the Adoption Board, which makes no sense whatsoever.

In the short time remaining I propose to address the issue raised by Deputy Shatter regarding the rights and responsibilities of fathers. In practical terms he is probably right that the majority of fathers in the circumstances in which he described, where there is no relationship with the mother, do not participate very much in their children's lives. However, I am strongly of the view that we must challenge and change that culture. We must give fathers both the opportunity and the responsibility to involve themselves in their children's lives. That is the cultural change towards which we must work. We should not accept the situation as a given and simply move on from there.

There are many fathers who would love to have a say in their children's lives; I have met some of them. There are two sides to this and the father's side has not yet been given the type of protection in law, in respect of the rules regarding lone parent's benefit and so on, that is required in the interests of the child. That may be a debate for another day.

It is an important debate. I support Deputy Shatter's amendments. Amendment No. 72, in my name, addresses a slightly different situation. As it is approaching 1 p.m. I will wait until the next occasion to speak to it. What I am speaking about is the rights of people, previously involved with a child, to some possibility of access following the adoption order.

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