Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill to the House. I recognise the work she and the Department have done in recent years. The Bill serves the best interests of the child. It gives us an opportunity to focus on the rights of children, and what is the perception or reality of the best environment in which to rear of a child in this country. Every child has the right to have his or her familial relationships recognised and we have a responsibility, as legislators, to ensure this right is protected.

The law is outdated and does not identify with the realities of family life in Ireland. The census in 2011 showed there were more than 215,000 lone-parent households, with more than 17,000 lone parents living in multi-family households. There was an increase of 41% in the number of children living in households headed by cohabiting couples between 2006 and 2011, while more than 25,000 children were born outside of marriage or civil partnership in 2012 alone. Current legislation does not provide these children with the protection they deserve.

Whatever one's moral or religious backgrounds our State is evolving and family life is changing. This Bill recognises the change and will cater for the needs of children living with married parents, unmarried parents, a grandparent, another relative who is parenting the child or a parent and parent's partner.

As the Minister stated in her speech, it has been 51 years since the Guardianship of Infants legislation was enacted in 1964. With the exception of the children's referendum, there has not been any significant legislation or changes in Irish society or legislation since that period. Part 4 of the Bill, when enacted, will enable the court to appoint step-parents, civil partners and cohabiting parents as guardians. Moreover, it will allow a parent or guardian to nominate a temporary guardian, a progressive advancement.

Should the Bill pass, a wider range of unmarried fathers will automatically become guardians of their children. A father who has lived with the child's mother for 12 consecutive months, including at least three months with the mother and child following the child's birth, will automatically become a guardian. These 12 months of cohabitation may take place at any stage between the birth of the child and the child's 18th birthday.

It will be possible, under this legislation, for a parent's spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of not less than three years to apply to the court to become a guardian where the person concerned has co-parented with the child for two years. While this is an important development in recognising the relationship between the child and the parent or relative parenting the child, these guardians will not have full guardianship powers unless it is determined to be in the best interests of the child, a priority at the heart of this Bill in the first instance. This level of guardianship will not be an automatic entitlement: for a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant the consent of an existing guardian will be required.

While these changes are essential to provide all children with the same protection of familial relationships as children born to married parents, a majority of children, except those who have been adopted, will continue to live with their biological parents, as they do now.

The matter of temporary guardians will be addressed by amending section 6E of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964. The insertion of a new section for the appointment of a temporary guardian by the court is a valuable aspect of the Bill. The court will have the ability to appoint temporary guardians in cases where it considers the qualifying guardian incapable of exercising guardianship, provided the temporary guardian is a suitable person to take on the responsibility of guardianship and, most important, the appointment is deemed to be in the best interests of the child.

The question of maintenance has raised its head on several occasions in the Dáil and Seanad in recent years. I welcome the fact the Bill includes measures that focus on making parenting work in cases where relationships have broken down. It is important to ensure the child's relationship with both parents is maintained and the Bill will implement provisions to assist in this regard. For example, parents who do not comply with court orders on access or custody can be required to compensate the other parent for the loss of time with the child or to attend a parenting programme. Furthermore, it will be possible for a potential maintenance liability to be imposed on a parent's civil or cohabitant partner.

I raised a particular matter on two previous occasions during discussions on the Bill. This is the scenario whereby attachment of earnings orders are placed on a parent. In the examples I have come across this is primarily a father who is not working and on social welfare. The court does not consider social welfare to be earnings and therefore the attachment order does not apply. In certain instances I have encountered in my constituency, children, who are now in their mid to late teens and whose parents have split up, divorced or separated, legally or otherwise, are not receiving any maintenance whatsoever from their fathers. This is wrong and it is highly questionable for society to accept it. Furthermore, it places a financial burden on the State. As legislators, we have a responsibility to ensure that all children are supported. We must ask what measures we can take as legislators to ensure that fathers in the cases I have mentioned actually pay their way or pay for their child's upbringing. Perhaps that is a matter for another Bill, probably in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection.

The rights of the majority of children in respect of parentage will not be changed under this legislation. On this matter we must be clear. I will reiterate a point made by the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald: the natural child of heterosexual parents will continue to be the child of his natural mother and natural father. However, this is about allowing a donor-conceived child to gain a second parent and a child adopted by civil partners or a cohabiting couple to gain two parents.

I wish to highlight one point with regard to same-sex couples adopting. Since 1952, an individual person in this country has been able to adopt as a single person, regardless of his circumstances or sexual orientation. Indeed, the qualifying criteria for someone to adopt a child in this country are rather onerous. It is extraordinarily difficult to pass the various tests applied and that is not going to change. All we are doing is recognising that two loving parents, regardless of their sexual orientation, can adopt. At the moment, a homosexual couple cannot and that is inherently unfair. I am pleased to see this being addressed in the Bill.

I welcome the inclusion of retrospective recognition of the parentage of certain donor-conceived children in cases where a child has been born through donor-assisted human reproduction treatment pre-commencement of the Bill.

Since my time is limited I will skip to the end and ask that my notes be read into the record. The Taoiseach has described this Bill as the most important change in family legislation in the history of this State. This is an apt description. I believe the Bill is essential to ensure family law in Ireland reflects the society in which we live, as I remarked at the outset.

I commend the Minister on her diligent work on the Children and Family Relationships Bill as well as the work of the Department officials present. I recognise they have put in a great many hours in the creation of this Bill.

It is necessary to ensure that all children, regardless of the family type they come from, have equal protections under our law. Not to take such child-centred action would be irresponsible of us as legislators.

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