INTO Equality Conference

1
INTOEquality Conference

• Hodson Bay Hotel
• Athlone
• March 5th/6th 2010

2
Families in Ireland

• Two-parent family based on marriage
• Two-parent family co-habiting
• The one parent family
• Grandparents rearing children
• Who else ?

3
Families in Ireland

• Parent (s) with children in another country
• Children with parent (s) in another country
• LGB headed families

4
Some questions to ponder

• Are childless couples a family ?
• What about 2 siblings sharing a household
• Uncle/aunt and niece /nephew sharing a household
• What constitutes a family ?

5
Children born in Ireland

• CSO statistics 2008
• 75,065 births
• 50,221 within marriage
• 24,844 outside marriage, of these more than half
  (12,859) were to co-habiting parents

6
The issues

• Rights of families and members of families
• Respect and recognition of all family types
• Strong poverty links with family status

7
Bunreacht

• Sanctions unequal treatment of families NOT based
  on marriage
• Fails to protect children born outside marriage

8
Consequences

• Immigration policy on family reunification
  mirrors constitutional position
• LGB partners can be excluded from hospital and
  other settings
• Unmarried fathers have to seek guardianship of
  their children

9
Consequences

• Gay and Lesbian relationships not recognised in
  law
• LGB and lone parents cannot adopt
• Social Welfare system based on male breadwinner
  model