As an unmarried father, you have
no automatic guardianship rights regarding your child/ren. We believe that
children have a right to be cared for by both parents but you will have to take
affirmative action to ensure your child’s right to a father and your right to
be a father.
Children born to unmarried
parents have no automatic right to their fathers name on the birth certificate
(as children born to married parents have), nor do they have the automatic
right to the care and protection of their father even when he wishes to provide
it.
In 1998 the Irish Government introduced
a piece of legislation that allowed unmarried fathers to make a statutory
declaration and become guardians of their child/ren. Prior to this Statutory
Instrument a father had to go before a Judge and seek his/her permission to
become a guardian of his child/ren. With the introduction of this Statutory
Instrument it is a joint declaration i.e the mother and father sign the
document appointing the father as a guardian, however if the mother refuse to
agree to this then the father has to revert back to the old way of becoming a
guardian and must go to court to seek guardianship.
