High Court Case on Unmarried Fathers

There've been a large number of media reports on a recent High Court case concerning an unmarried father, Mr. G. The judge appears to have emphasised family rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The full judgment doesn't appear to be on the Courts Service website yet.
[Update 23 November 2007:
The judgment is now available. The case is
T. v O. [2007] IEHC 326, Mc Kechnie J., 10 September 2007]

Here are some of the news reports:

Landmark Ruling on Father's Rights (RTE)

Unmarried Father Wins Right to Seek Return of Twin Boys (Irish Times)

Judge Calls for Review of Fathers' Rights (Irish Examiner)

Unmarried Father Makes History in Custody Case (Irish Examiner)

International Herald Tribune Story

Family Law Matters

The Courts Service has launched its second report on Family Law proceedings, 'Family Law Matters'. This is part a series of reports which are a Courts Service initiative to shine a light on family law courts. The report provides information under four headings; Reports, Statistics, Opinion and Judgments. It includes an excerpt from a paper by Judge Conal Gibbons dealing with the reasons children are taken into care and by the Pensions Ombudsman Paul Kenny dealing with the issue of pension adjustment orders.

The paper by Judge Gibbons shows that of the children in care in Ireland 43% are as a result of a court care order are 57% voluntary placements. It goes on to show that the major reasons children are in care are:

• neglect 1,386
• physical abuse, 290
• sexual abuse, 159
• emotional abuse, 147
• emotional and behavioural problems, 134
• mental health problems / intellectual disability, 19
• abusing drugs / alcohol, 9
• physical illness/ disability, 8
• pregnancy, 7
• involved in crime, 4
• other, 146

The figures also show that of the 5,060 children in care in Ireland only 442 are in residential care with the vast majority being in some form of foster care and with 32 being cared for at home under supervision.

The Family Law Reporter is Dr Carol Coulter.

Full Press Release:
http://tinyurl.com/2hrmwk

Full text of reports:
http://tinyurl.com/2slzba

Titles of reports:
Maintenance procedures in the district court.pdf
Family Law Matters - Vol. 1 No. 2 2007 - Summer 2007.pdf
Family Law Matters - Vol.1 No.1 - Spring 2007.pdf

Sample Media Coverage:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0710/morningireland.html