Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

This is quite a complex issue and I want to clarify a few things. I do not agree that a father should have to live with a mother to gain guardianship. The law does not state that. I do not agree with the provision and I have raised questions about it because it is arbitrary and gives extra rights to somebody who lived with a woman, but that does not mean he is a suitable father. My problem is with a whole raft of Deputies arguing that there should be automatic guardianship in every case.

I do not agree with that, and I will explain why. Any father can make a statutory declaration that he is a guardian, and he does not have to live with somebody for a year to do so. It has been proposed by some Deputies that extra rights are earned if a person lives with a partner for a year, but that is not true. The Minister has indicated that she will make the statutory declaration a bigger issue, and I agree with Deputies that this has not been discussed enough. There are many people in this position, so it should have been debated more, and it is a little disappointing that the media have not taken more of an interest.

I have never said that somebody who is unmarried is more likely to commit domestic violence. I made the point that just because a person has lived with a woman for a year, there should not be an automatic right to guardianship. Many of the one in five women who, according to Women's Aid, experience domestic violence in this country will now be put in a very difficult position because the man who abused them, and possibly their children, will have guardianship. We put down amendments, which unfortunately were ruled out of order. There should be conditions relating to guardianship. For example, Women's Aid called for a rebuttal presumption to be introduced relating to custody, and the same goes for guardianship.

See this speech in context