LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dundalk Saturday 22nd May 2004
EU Irish Presidency Conference on “EU
Families, change and Social Policy” Disregards Fathers and
shames Ireland.
This EU Conference was organised by Minister for Social Community
and Family affairs Mary Coughlan and held in Dublin Castle on May
13-14th last. Senior Delegates from some 30 EU states participated
along with representatives from various NGO’s. To the Minister
and her department’s credit the event ran like clockwork.
There was just one problem. The clock is running anti-clockwise,
in the wrong direction. Over the two days the conference mapped
out future Family Policy in the EU from a women’s perspective
only. The views, needs and contributions of 50% of EU citizens were
disregarded, because they are male.
The sexist casting away of fathers was emphasised in the closing
session of the conference entitled “Contributions from individual
family members representing the different generations within families”.
This presentation was preceded by an envoy of the UN reading a special
letter celebrating the tenth anniversary of the International year
of the Family. The contributors were brilliant and Ireland can be
proud of all of them. A young boy talked as a son, a teenage girl
as a daughter, a black man talked about racism and ethnic issues,
a grandmother told her story. Finally the last contribution was
from a mother.
There was no room for a father, nor a grandfather. Most importantly,
no one in the hall seemed to notice and no one stated that the “empress
has no clothes”.
The non-inclusion of men in future families is EU policy and this
is a major Election issue. What is a Community without it’s
people and how can one have community when men are marginalised.
PS:- A journalist subsequently responded to me, suggesting that
the black man may have been the token father. I thought back to
the contribution. You know, I mused, he had never even mentioned
if he was a father.
Yours from a father
Liam Ó Gógáin
1 Muirhevna
Dublin Road
Dundalk
Ph:- 087 2543997
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