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GAZETTE
A
P
R
IL
1977
The Resolution "That the Solicitors' Apprentices'
Debating Society of Ireland is worthy of the support of
Solicitors' Apprentices, of the Council of the
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, and of the
Solicitors' profession" was proposed by Senator Mary
Robinson, President of CHERISH. In the course of her
speech, Senator Robinson said.
Despite the firm and repeated commitment by the
Government that it will introduce a constitutional
amendment to regularise the law and practice relating to
adoption there has been no indication of the precise
nature of this amendment. Meanwhile, seven months have
gone by and now we are into an election year. It is most
important that the Government's intention be carried out,
but also that the scope of the proposed amendment be
broadened to ensure that it redresses the present
imbalance in the Constitution and provides a clear
statement of the rights of children and of their equality
before the law.
Earlier this week the Irish Council for Civil Liberties
made specific proposals and suggested a form of wording
of any such amendment. The report emphasised four
points:
Firstly, that the rights of parents should continue to be
guaranteed but should no longer be defined as
imprescriptible or inalienable. This would make it possible
for legitimate children to be adopted in cases where their
parents had abandoned them or seriously illtreated them
— instead of spending their young lives in institutions or
fosterage as many do at present.
Secondly, a new balance should be established between
the rights of parents and children's rights. The 1937
Constitution is biased in favour of the rights of parents.
Thirdly, the protection of the rights of children should
be recognised as a special responsibility of the State, which
would involve independent legal representation for
children where their interests require it.
Fourthly, discrimination between children based on
parentage alone should be prohibited. The precise
wording recommended to achieve this position would
require an addition of a new subsection to Article 41 as
follows:
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied to
any child on the basis of status at birth or parentage."
That statement, inserted in the Constitution would
ensure the abolition of the legal concept of illegitimacy,
and would prevent a legal distinction being made between
the constitutional rights and protection afforded to a
family based on marriage and one not based on marriage.
I believe there is considerable and growing support in
the community for such a reform and that public attitudes
and prejudices would change even more quickly if the
Government were prepared to give a lead. The law is not
neutral on this point — it both reflects and influences
public attitudes. For that reason it would be unrealistic to
wait until there was overwhelming support for such a
move — the moral responsibility for leadership must be
accepted.
The constitutional and legal position is important but
forms only part of the picture. Lawyers should also have
a deep concern for the social dimension. The world
through the eyes of a single mother is a difficult and some
times hostile environment in which she suffers a
cumulative series of disadvantages. Being a woman she
can expect to fill the lower paid jobs and to be
discriminated against in access to employment,
promotion, training and pension rights. If she was
employed before her child was bom it may be difficult or
impossible for her to return to her job. The absence of
adequate nursery facilities, and in particular the lack of
any state-subsidised nursery for a child under 10 months,
is a great hardship. If her job involved working on
Saturdays, such as in a shop, hotel or laundry, it could
easily cost £5 to get a childminder for the day. She has to
cope alone with problems of accommodation hire
purchase agreements, etc. She may feel isolated and alone
in coping with decisions affecting her child and in
particular the child's relationship with its father. She may
have to decide whether to bring affiliation proceedings,
whether to encourage a relationship between child and
father (who may be a married man) and worry about how
to ensure the balanced emotional development of her
child.
So far the Irish community has been slow to respond
and to provide adequate supports and services in order
to help the single mother cope with this cumulative series
of problems.
Only one local "housing authority — Cork City — has
been prepared to recognise the single mother and child as
a family unit which should receive favourable
consideration in the housing list. The Health Boards
acknowledge a general responsibility for giving advice
and help but lack specialised personnel. There are no
subsidised nurseries for children under 10 months and
very few for pre-school children. The working single
mother could expect to pay an average of £7-£8 a week
on nursery fees. Alternatively, she and her child could try
to learn to live on £14.30 a week, rising to £15.65 in
April.
Clearly, the Health Boards should increase their
involvement at two levels: firstly, by providing and
subsidising nurseries that cater for very young children —
with a higher ratio of qualified staff, and secondly, by
developing daily child-minding and compiling a register to
ensure proper standards and safeguards.
A conscious attempt should be made to provide an
adequate advice service throughout the country, and not
just in Dublin and the cities. It has been the experience of
Cherish that about 25% of the girls who contact them
each year have left their home in the country to seek help
in Dublin and have an immediate problem of
accomodation, job finding etc. Either there is no
community service in their locality or they lack
confidence in the service offered.
We have become increasingly aware of, and alarmed
by, the high abortion figures for Irish women going over
to England for that purpose. Yet we seem reluctant to
take elementary steps to reduce that figure — by a
comprehensive system of family planning advice and
services, and by creating a caring supportive community
environment for the single mother who has rejected that
option and decided to have her child and to assume all the
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i es
of
a
s i n g le
pa r e n t.
This Resolution was duly seconded by the President,
Mr. Bruce St. John Blake, who said:
Before bringing this meeting to a close I am very glad
to be afforded the opportunity of expressing certain
personally held views which I am satisfied reflect the
attitude of the Solicitors' Profession on the entire subject
of Family Law in the Republic of Ireland and with
particular reference to the question of illegitimacy.
It is both the right and the duty of lawyers to speak out
loudly and clearly to the community to point out defects
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