1. INTO Equality Conference Hodson Bay Hotel Athlone March 5 th /6 th 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