The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has given a qualified welcome to today’s High Court judgment in the “Mr G” case, which recognised that an unmarried father has inherent rights in relation to his children.
Speaking shortly after Mr Justice Liam McKechnie gave his judgment, ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“This is a landmark case, in that effective advocacy based on European Convention on Human Rights standards has led the Court to focus on the substance of Mr G’s caring relationship with his children, rather than limit itself to the archaic conception of the family to be found in the Constitution”.
“However, as this case was decided on its particular facts, it remains the case that other unmarried fathers have virtually no rights under current Irish law. The Mr G judgment highlights once again the pressing need for reform of the definition of the family in the Constitution in order to grant equality to all families in Ireland” he concluded.
Note to Editors:
According to the principles set out by the European Court of Human Rights in its case-law, where the existence of a family tie with a child has been established, the State must act in a manner calculated to enable that tie to be developed and legal safeguards must be created that render possible as from the moment of birth the child’s integration in his family. According to the European Court, the mutual enjoyment by parent and child of each other’s company constitutes a fundamental element of family life even when the relationship between the parents has broken down.
Reference should also be made in this context to the principle laid down in Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that a child has, as far as possible, the right to be cared for by his or her parents.