Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the Children and Family Relationships Bill. It is, as she said, a very far-reaching Bill which puts children at the very heart of Irish family law. It is about time that happened. It reflects the reality of life in Ireland today. In the past there was a belief in an idealised version of the family. In reality, even if on the outside a family appears to be traditional and perfect, made up of a mother, father and children, every family has its difficulties, problems and foibles.

Ireland has been a very cold place for the non-traditional family relationship.

We have been dealing with much of the fallout from that perception of what a family was and how it should be dealt with in society. We have had to deal with the Magdalen laundry cases and the women who were pretty much incarcerated there. We have had to deal with children in industrial schools, reformatories and orphanages. All of that has been part and parcel of what we have been doing during this Government's term and in those of previous Governments. It has taken a very long time for us to come to grips with and address the wrongs we have visited upon children over the years and the manner in which society has treated children with regard to the family relationship.

It is about time we put children first and, in doing so, we should recognise the centrality of children in the family relationship, no matter what the nature of the relationship. We must define the new parameters of that relationship in a legal context as we cannot leave such issues to the courts all the time. This must take in the matters of responsibility, guardianship, protective orders, affidavits for access to children and the pantheon of issues that can cause enormous difficulties in the court and in family scenarios that should be simpler, more comforting, certain and more receptive to the needs of children.

I compliment the Minister on the work she has done in this respect and the previous Minister, Deputy Shatter, who took this matter very seriously and began the initial work for the Bill that the Minister has built on so strongly. The majority of children live in marital-based families with biological parents, but that is not the reality for a large number of children who live with other family types. The 2011 census indicates that more than 215,000 families were headed by lone parents and the number of children living in cohabiting households increased by 41% between 2006 and 2011. These are quite stark figures which indicate a move from the traditional family relationship that would have been recognised very much in the Constitution and would have been perceived in previous decades to have been the norm. It is the norm today but it must be recognised that other relationships are not by any means an exception, as they are quite common as well.

I can see it in my constituency of Dublin Central, in Cabra and the north inner city. In many cases there, almost half of families are headed by a lone parent, and there are also many households where a grandparent is the main carer. The 2011 census indicates that there are areas in Dublin Central with no traditional households consisting of a husband, wife and child at all. This development has occurred over decades and it is high time we recognised it and incorporated it in legislation to give certainty to the children who need support.

It is clear that a significant number of children are living in households other than those headed by married parents and it is most welcome that the Bill will tackle some of the complex issues around parentage, guardianship, custody and access across a range of family positions that are not addressed adequately in current law. This Bill reflects the diverse family types in which people live and updates the current legislation in respect of who, other than a child's parents, can apply for guardianship in respect of a child. The area of assisted human reproduction and donor-conceived children must be clarified in order that we do not have to deal with such issues in the courts on an ongoing or piecemeal basis when there is no direction in law. It is high time that clear legislation was put in place in this respect.

This will also enable a wider range of unmarried fathers automatically to become guardians of their children and it is important that we support unmarried fathers who want to be involved in the care of their children. There is, of course, an increasing number of fathers who wish to be involved and are more than willing to build the relationship.

My final point concerns grandparents, whose role has been completely unrecognised. I remember during the divorce referendum campaign holding a meeting at Barry's Hotel with Mr. Mervyn Taylor and there was a row of seven elderly women there. They were part of an organisation called "GPO". I had never heard of this and thought it referred to the GPO down the street. The name referred to "grandparents obliterated" and these women were concerned that with the advent of divorce proceedings, grandparents might end up with no access to children. I am glad this Bill will consider the role of grandparents in the lives of children.

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