Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on bringing forward this Bill. It is legislation that once adopted will not necessarily change the world we know but more accurately reflect it. The traditional concept of the family evolved a long time ago and it is great that politicians are finally catching up to that fact. I am proud to be part of a Government that is doing this important work to reflect what Ireland is today and what modern Ireland looks like.

I want to touch upon an issue we spoke about previously, namely, fathers' rights. The Bill does not give automatic rights to unmarried fathers and tells them that if they want these rights, they must earn them. They must prove their commitment to the child but also to the mother, and they do this by living with the mother and child for a 12-month period. I am concerned about the natural rights of the father and about recognising the father's natural rights in the guardianship and raising of the child. If there is no recognition of such natural rights, does this not then undermine the notion of an automatic natural responsibility which needs to be encouraged where sometimes it is, unfortunately, lacking?

If we look at the practicalities of achieving guardianship for the father, we can see that the test to achieve such rights and responsibilities, if we can call it a test, seems to contradict the kinds of modern family arrangements we see today and which the rest of the Bill so nobly attempts to address. I wonder whether 12 months living together, of which three must be after the child's birth, is the best test to prove that a father is interested in his child. In the absence of recognising a natural or automatic right to guardianship, is this really the best standard by which we would then confer guardianship on the unmarried father? I have a concern about this area and it is a concern voiced to me by others as well. I look forward to fleshing it out in more detail on Committee Stage. Perhaps it is a point of policy on which the Minister and I disagree and will not agree, which is understandable. Every piece of legislation that goes through the Dáil is about compromise and sometimes it will be possible to amend legislation in the way one wants and sometimes that will not be possible and it is hoped to do it again in the future. I believe there should be automatic rights to guardianship for the unmarried father and that is something I would like to pursue with this legislation and, if not with this legislation, at a later date.

I will touch on another related area, which is the idea of a central register for joint guardianship agreements. I note that there is a request that the Government would amend the Bill to include the establishment of a central register for joint guardianship agreements to keep a record of statutory declarations agreeing guardianship rights. That seems very sensible to me. I know that in its pre-legislative scrutiny, the Oireachtas committee recommended something similar, as did the Law Reform Commission, so I hope this is something that could at least be considered as we move through to Committee Stage.

I commend the Minister on bringing forward this legislation and all the many aspects of it. I foresee some difficult times when it goes through the House and people opposing it for different reasons, but it is important that we try to build as much consensus as we can around this law because of the impact it will have on society. I welcome all the time that has been afforded to the debate so far. A full week on Second Stage and more if we need it is very welcome, and anything we can do to have a meaningful and constructive Committee Stage debate where we give the necessary time to flesh out every issue before we adopt this Bill would also be very welcome in terms of making sure that as this legislation leaves the House and becomes law, it has the support of most, if not all, politicians and that people recognise that we are trying to act in the best interests of the modern family we see today. I commend the legislation to the House and congratulate the Minister.

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