Courts must consider rights of unwed fathers
Wednesday July 04 2007
A BRITISH judge has ruled that the Irish courts must consider the rights of unmarried fathers.
The landmark decision was made in a case taken by an Irish father against his former partner. His two-year-old twins were taken from Ireland to Manchester by the woman last January.
The ruling means that despite the children currently being in the UK, the custody case must be heard before the Irish courts.
In a highly contested custody battle in the family law division of the High Court in London, the mother argued that her former partner had no rights because he wasn't the children's legal guardian under Irish law.
Under the Irish Constitution, unmarried fathers currently have no explicit legal rights to their children.
In almost all custody cases where the couple are unmarried, custody is awarded to the mother.
But the British court ruled the custody case should be heard in Ireland because that is where the children lived before they were taken away by their mother.
In making her decision the British judge relied on legal opinion by Irish child rapporteur and family law expert Geoffrey Shannon.
This will be the first case in which the Irish courts will be compelled to explicitly rule on unmarried fathers' rights - which are guaranteed in the European Convention of Human Rights.
The man cannot be named for legal reasons.
- Dearbhail McDonald
