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

We have had a good airing of the issues. I accept what the Minister has said as it will take a while to set up and if the Minister is giving a commitment that there will be a review within two years. Hopefully, that will carry on to the next Government regardless of whether the Minister is in office. There are significant changes in the Bill. It would have been better if there had been a lot more discussion outside the House because of the complexity of family situations. For some reason, this has not happened on television and in the rest of the media.

I wish to clarify that I had a fantastic father and that I am all for fathers but I also recognise that it is not an ideal world, that there are situations where women and children need protection from fathers and that guardianship gives someone a lot of power over a family even if he is not living with the family. If we are extending guardianship, we need some kind of review of it. I also welcome the statutory declaration, which should be promoted.

Some Deputies have given the impression that fathers are beating down the door to get access to their children. We need scientific analysis of this because there is quite a vociferous fathers' rights lobby out there. Most of us know situations where men are not treated equally in the courts but for every one case, we know ten others where women have been left supporting children economically and socially. I favour a complete change in the way parenting happens. It should be shared. It is not right that it falls on women, which is one of the reasons there are very few women in this Chamber. There are fewer women here than there are in the parliament in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the type of society we have puts the responsibility for child rearing on women. This needs to change but until it does, we also need to recognise that there are men who do not take responsibility not just in terms of domestic violence, but in supporting their children over the years.

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