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About Us The Family - Marriage and Children The National Men's Council of Ireland, in keeping with the Irish Constitution, extols the virtue and value of the two-parent, Marriage-based Family as the foundation of society. We hold that Marriage can only be the union of one man and one woman and is intended to be life-long. We trust in God, in rationality, in Bunreacht Na hÉireann and the Rule of Law. We are not a partisan organisation like the national Womens Council. We do not advocate for the interests of men against women. Our motto is: "Doing what men have always done - protecting their Families, Faith and Freedom" Our primary aim is to stabilise and foster a civilised society. We believe for that to be achieved we need to strengthen the Family founded on Marriage by encouraging Spouses to understand the rights and duties that apply to them within their Marriage in which they agreed to love each other, "for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; till the day I die' and to love the fruits of their union, their children unconditionally. The most important duties of Spouses are (i) that they work together in making and keeping decisions - for the benefit of the Family as a whole - over matters that affect the assets that have been built up during the Marriage, the most precious of these being their children and (ii) that they remain at all times open to the Reconciliation of any differences that may arise between them that threaten the stability and unity of the Family. Most Families achieve these duties and cohabit for many years despite occasions when the "wear and tear" of Family life brings stresses and strains to the relationship. The National Mens Council of Ireland and Mothers at Home have set up the Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland. As well as carrying out this vital research work the National Mens Council of Ireland also operate a Family Help and Marriage Reconciliation Group (FIRM). This is in the form of a self-help group where members are expected to give of themselves as well as receive expert support and encouragement. Through this work we are able to explain to Spouses how the law supports fidelity and protects the innocent Spouse and enables them to continue with their Family life in situations where the other spouse has abandoned their duties and are no longer open to Reconciliation. However this work can only be done in the context of a society which is being guided in the right direction. The State has an important role to play in this as shown by the limitations and undertakings imposed on it by the Constitution, "The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State. The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack." Sadly we are finding that the State is under the influence of those who wish to free the State of its obligations to serve the Family founded on Marriage and believe that the State should be all-powerful and be able to dictate to all the citizens including Families despite the Constitution clearly showing that the Family founded on Marriage is superior in law to the State. Many of the members of our Family Help and Marriage Reconciliation Group come to us when they find their school, the HSE or the courts refusing to acknowledge their authority over their children and their Family life. Because of this the National Men's Council of Ireland are called to protect Families, schools, and places of worship against these unlawful forces that threaten them, including biased, misandrist and offensive media and attacks on religious and parental liberty. In keeping with this role we monitor, on behalf of the Family men and women of Ireland, legislative changes and state social policy for its impact on the Family based on Marriage and especially on children. We offer the resource of the vast amount of experience and research that have accumulated by the Council and by the individual members. We can assist members of the Family Integrity and Marriage Reconciliation (FIRM) Self-Help Group by helping them with the paper-work if they wish to pursue their own case or by the Council writing directly to the Third Party - whether that is a school, a court, the HSE or a government department - to ask them to explain why they persist in breaking the law and to point out that their actions will not be tolerated. We do not receive any State funding for our FIRM Group. Government policy has failed to provide the necessary support for Families in difficulty to be Reconciled. The evidence shows that the State benefits by every Family that it can force into separation or divorce. Overwhelmingly the evidence shows that the legal system and its practitioners benefit by every Family that it can force into separation or divorce. The evidence shows that the State benefits by every Family it is allowed to disrespect the authority of in relation to its children - in the areas of schooling, health, housing, passports and social welfare payments, etc. In doing this work we find ourselves unearthing corruption and cover-ups by organs of the State where they are involved in impermissible attacks on the Family. The extent to which the State is prepared to go is shown by the fact that several Husbands have been imprisoned simply because they wanted to remain faithful to their Marriage and to the Covenant they made with God. In every case the State has been shown to have acted unlawfully and the men have been released and the institution of Marriage strengthened by their courage. The bottom line is that we have God and Truth on our side AND the Rule of Law! We always act with the law and by doing this we constantly expose the corrupt practices being carried out by government departments and the courts. For every Family under threat our FIRM Group offers an opportunity to get the support and encouragement needed to repel and recover from the unwarranted attacks on the authority and unity of Families founded on Marriage. NOTE: The National Mens Council of Ireland operate a Family Integrity and Marriage Reconciliation (FIRM) Self-Help Group. Send your email address or postal address to familymen@eircom.net or to Knockvicar, Boyle, Co. Roscommon for a membership form so we can start assisting you to repel the attack on your Family. ************* The 10 foundational principles of the Law as it relates to Freedom and the Family founded on Marriage - an analysis by the Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland PREAMBLE Freedom in any society or institution is ironically not measured by the propensity of rights that each individual has but by the understanding that freedom for others - including oneself - flows from the degree to which each member of that society or institution is themself prepared to do their duty to properly self-regulate their own actions for the Common Good of the institution or of society as a whole. A "right" only exists where a citizen commits themself to a duty for others to the extent that they can be held legally liable for their failure. In these circumstances a person must necessarily be afforded the right to properly carry out that duty unhindered by any third party. A "right" which does not exist to empower a person to carry out a duty is in fact a "privilege" and a strong case can then be made that those not "in receipt" of this "invented right" are being unjustly discriminated against. Moreover these duties and the rights that flow from them are God-given and we call them "Natural" rights. Christian teaching shows us that authentic Christian love requires us to commit to the duty of service and sacrifice for others. Institutions and societies based on Christian principles, where the faithful are called to love their neighbour - even their enemy - as themselves, provide by this definition, the greatest potential for liberty. Freedom is most likely therefore to be found in societies where Judeo-Christian principles of "self-regulation and service" dominate the Law and public policy decisions. Individual-rights-based ideologies, where individual self-interests are promoted rather than authentic love - which is defined as service and sacrifice of self for others - can never provide real freedom - only totalitarianism. This is because, concomitant to the "individual/human rights" approach, instead of self-control, regulation must inevitably be imposed by the force of the State which has assumed the power to control and distribute such so-called rights/privileges. The most onerous duty that a citizen can undertake - because it is the most regulated and self-regulated social activity - is in the formation and maintenance of the Family founded on Marriage. Spouses who have committed themselves to the self-regulation and public regulation by Marriage are held, additionally to all the duties of every other citizen, to a raft of duties which they are required to perform for the benefit of the Family as a whole and which operate to provide the necessary stability to society. So whereas, as it says in Article 40.1 "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law", spouses are actually held to a higher level of accountability. It is for this reason that it says in Article 41.2 "The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State"; and in Article 41.3. 1 "The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack." The Supreme Court has confirmed on numerous occasions that it is only the Family founded on Marriage that is recognised in the Constitution. No other form of blood or social relationship carries anything like the same level of duty and commitment as spouses are held to. To provide such other relationships with similar "rights" without the concomitant duties would be to "privilege" them above spouses and other citizens and this is clearly unconstitutional. The following 10 points sum up the position of the Family founded on Marriage within society and the rules that govern its relationship with the State and other third parties. The applicable Law and a Booklet of Authorities providing the citations which support these principles forms part of the Report, "Parental Rights and the Law in the matter of Schooling", and can be downloaded from the Reference Library section at www.family-men.com/reference.htm 1. The Family founded on Marriage is antecedent to the State. It is a private institution and so has its own constitution and authority. This acknowledges that the heads of that Family - the Husband and Wife - are the only ones who have authority to manage the Family's internal affairs and therefore must be free to do so without fear of interference by the State - who in Law has no interest in the Family's private affairs. 2. Both in religious ceremonies and recognised by the civil Law, in Marriage spouses become wedded together to form one flesh and make a promise to remain faithful to this Family Unit so formed for as long as they live. They promise to love their children unconditionally. Each spouse vows to sacrifice their own welfare and selfish interests for the benefit of the other spouse and for the Family as a whole. They submit themselves to the rules of exogamy (the 29 degrees of prohibition) which deny them the possibility of incestuous breeding by barring them from marrying and procreating with a close relative. The spouses comply with the regulations that they give a minimum of three months notice thus ensuring that the Marriage is planned and considered and additionally, as the ceremony takes place in public, opens the spouses to public scrutiny and being challenged by any other person as to why the Marriage should not take place. As well as risking losing authority over the Family assets that they have helped to create, a spouse also risks dishonouring the covenant they made with God and their spouse by their misconduct. This responsibility for spouses to behave and sacrifice their own personal welfare for the benefit of the Family as a Unit renders the Family founded on Marriage a moral institution and consequently the optimum place for procreation and socialisation of the next generation. This is recognised in Article 41.1 where it says, "The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law." 3. Cardinal Brady summed up in his address to the Ceifin Conference "My key message today is thus: The priority of the family over society and over the State has to be reaffirmed. The family does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family." (Read his important address in at www.family-men.com/Family%20as%20Foundation.html) Taken with points 1 and 2 this means the State can not lawfully interfere with the Family founded on Marriage. The exception of course is where the public law is violated and there is a finding that a crime has been or is being committed. 4. The Family founded on Marriage is a Unit and must be treated at all times as one by all third parties, especially the State in its social policy, its legislation and through its courts. Like all institutions the Family founded on Marriage has its own Constitution and authority which must be respected by all third parties. Nominally the Husband is head of the Family and is required to act as the Chairman of the committee of both spouses. We say he has the right of Custody over the children and therefore is particularly liable for their maintenance and protection. This role of Custodian can be transferred privately between the spouses, using the courts for voluntary arbitration if required,. This transfer of the duty of Custody between the spouses can not be ordered by the State through the courts and this can only be accomplished legally where both spouses have given their informed consent, voluntarily by their "appearance" at such a specific arbitration process. 5. The actual legitimate duty of the State - where there is no criminal finding - is to facilitate the better functioning and continuance of the Family Unit founded on Marriage. 6. All decisions, especially those that affect the children and which involve third parties - including organs of the State - can only be implemented by the spouses acting jointly. Either spouse can not unilaterally involve a third party BUT necessarily retains the right to veto any involvement at any time of a third party if they believe the child's welfare is no longer benefiting. 7. The heads of the Family founded on Marriage, the Husband and Wife, jointly and exclusively control the welfare and education of their children. State interference or assistance is unlawful unless specifically requested by the joint power and authority of the spouses. Neither spouse is entitled to deny the child's right to unfettered access to both parents. 8. The heads of the Family founded on Marriage, the Husband and Wife exclusively control the assets that have accrued during the lifetime of the Marriage. These include the Family Home, the children, any land or property and savings etc. Assets owned by the spouses prior to the Marriage and assets inherited by individual spouses from their own Family during the Marriage are not part of the matrimonial assets and belong to the individual spouse to use as they see fit. 9. Spouses must at all times be open to reconciliation if any difference of opinion or conflict threatens the integrity of the Family Unit. 10. If a spouse wilfully acts unilaterally with third parties without the consent of the other spouse and refuses to reconcile they have, morally and in law, abandoned their position in the Family and thereby forfeit further authority over the family's assets to the exclusive control of the faithful spouse, This includes the day to day care and control of the children. Note: In genuine cases of abandonment, in order to establish the new Family authority, the State has "ambushed" spouses into having to dishonour the Marriage vows they made. By abolishing, in 1989, the remedy of the Restitution of Conjugal Rights, the effect of which was to order the errant spouse to reconcile and take up their Family duty of acting jointly with the other spouse for the benefit of the Family Units - spouses are unjustly confined to the option of seeking either a decree of separation or divorce to settle their affairs. Furthermore the State, having removed the remedy of the courts coercing spouses to Reconcile on the basis that this was not compatible with "modern" society the State has negligently and purposefully not provided any funding or means for Reconciliation services where this "voluntary Reconciliation might take place. The State have abandoned their Constitutional duty to protect Marriage. The Judicial Separation Act, 1989 and Family Reform Act, 1995 that the State claimed replaced the need for the action for the Restitution of Conjugal Rights requires the innocent spouse to break the promise of Marriage they made. This is unacceptable and avoidable by the simple remedy that we propose - through which the innocent spouse is permitted to maintain the promises of Marriage they made - whereby an application is made for a Court to issue to the remaining Family a Declaration of Desertion by the errant spouse. This order could then be used to exclude the deserter from future control of the Family assets including the children. To be compatible with these principles this declaration must be rescindable where the errant spouse repents and seeks reconciliation of the Marriage. The Judicial Separation Act and the Divorce Act, being shown to be unjust and unconstitutional must be repealed. God Bless, Roger Eldridge Chairman, National Mens Council of Ireland Executive Director, Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland National Office: Knockvicar, Boyle, Co. Roscommon Website: www.family-men.com Email: familymen@eircom.net Telephones: 00353 (0) 7196-67138 00353 (0) 83-3330256 NOTE: The National Mens Council of Ireland operate a Family Integrity and Marriage Reconciliation (FIRM) Self-Help Group. Send your email address or postal address to familymen@eircom.net or to Knockvicar, Boyle, Co. Roscommon for a membership form so we can start assisting you to repel the attack on your Family. The Law of the Family founded on Marriage in Ireland The position of husbands as head of the Family and the position in law of his Wife and children as his dependents is outlined in his essay, "The constitutional protection of parental rights" by William Duncan in the Report of the Constitutional Review Group, 1996. In it he refers the reader to Katherine O'Donovan, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Kent, where she states in her book, "Sexual Divisions in Law", "Within the modern bureaucratic state the nuclear Family of Husband, Wife and their children is treated as a unit. The head and public representative of this unit is the Husband, whose Wife and children are legally constituted his dependants, not only economically but also because they are subject to his orders. His role is to control what goes on within the Family in private." We feel the need to state this fact publicly simply because information disseminated widely by the Government and the Legal Aid Board, and latterly in a Supreme Court Judgment by Lord Chief Justice John Murray, insists on proliferating the deceit that within the married Family Mothers and Fathers have equal status and that the Father is not the head of the Family unit. The Legal Aid Board, in their explanatory leaflets and www.Oasis, the government's web-based information site even go as far as to assert that the married Mother and Father hold the right and duty of Custody over their children jointly. This is plainly not true and those responsible for the spreading of this lie must be held accountable. In law in Ireland, even today a married Father is held liable for the Custody of the children of his Marriage. He exercises his Custodial role in the protection of his Family - in practice through the act of providing for and maintaining his Family and conserving the family resources. He is entrusted to Husband the Family like a farmer husbands his stock - he manages with prudence and frugality. In law the married Mother does not have the duty of Custody of the children of the Family but rather has the complementary right acknowledged in the Constitution to nurture the children of the Family, safe in the protection afforded her by her Husband. Being a Guardian with inalienable rights she is of course entitled to apply for Custody if her Husband has misconducted himself so as to have failed in his duty. It
is very strange that no-one ever talks about what this duty entails and
how it differs from the duty and rights that a Guardian has. In the
Supreme Court in B. v. B. [1975] I.R. 54 SC’, O’Dalaigh
C.J. is quoted as stating, As for how and where their children will be educated precedent, statue and the Constitution recognise that the Mother and Father share the right and duty to make such arrangements. Once an agreement is reached neither parent can unilaterally change it. It would appear from the above that the duty and 'right' of Custody amounts to little more than, say the position of the Chairperson of a committee of two! - made up of the Husband and Wife. Although, theoretically the chairperson - the Custodial parent - might have the deciding vote, as anyone knows who has worked on a committee it often means that, for the sake of keeping the committee happy and functioning, the chair would often have to sacrifice their own preference and compromise. When it comes to sacrifice God has chosen men to step forward so there is nothing sexist or chauvinistic about the Husband being held to the Custodial role. It is part of his 'social function'. He shows his love for his Family most often by sacrificing the comfort of his home and the enjoyment of the company of his Wife and children and working outside the home. His love ironic and unseen. It is measured by his ability to bear the separation he feels from his Family and to do work which is often dirty, dangerous and unsocial but necessary to provide for the welfare of his Family. This also explains why men care less about their own health than everyone elses in the Family. The definition of "custody" is the "keeping and safe-keeping" so the role also encompasses the duty of providing financially for the children. This still falls primarily to men. Even where the wife has been 'granted Custody' legitimately - in the rare case where the Husband has abandoned his Family duties - the law still expects him to provide through maintenance payments. Women are excused this duty within the Constitutional provisions and we know of no situation where the Wife pays maintenance for the Husband and children even where she is the deserter. We believe that knowledge offers the best hope for an end to Marriage breakdown which is the real tragedy for children and for society. In the matter of the welfare of children we believe, and this is clearly shown by all the evidence, that what is best for them is simply being reared by their two parents, supported and respected by the state to share this onerous task and our work is dedicated to ensuring that children are conceived and remain within a Family unit with their two committed parents. We believe it is the role of the state to at all times assist citizens to avail of the safeguards afforded them and their children in Marriage as recognised in the Constitution. This means that the primary focus of the Family Support Agency must be to ensure reconciliation in cases of conflict between Husband and Wife and to provide education and training, supported by social welfare policies, which will ensure that all young adults who intend to procreate are informed of the benefits of Marriage. Everyone must be told of the serious damage that is done to children when their parents fail to honour their commitment to each other and the children and stop acting in unison as one flesh - ie together, preferably under one roof, with the children as their principal focus. We can not find evidence which shows a benefit to children of supporting groups who merely demand that they, as parents, have "CONTACT with their children!" We strongly support Fathers who insist on "protecting and caring for their children - all the time" No amount of generating an 'equitable' outcome for parents after separation is going to prevent the damage already done to children, adults and society by the separation itself. Our extensive inquiry into the law and outcomes for children and their parents leads us to require:
The claim made by the state that the Husband and Wife have an equal right to the Custody of their children was considered and rejected as being detrimental to family harmony as long ago as 1925 when The Lord Chancellor, then of England and Ireland, made clear the opposition to the idea of joint stewardship of the married Family when he stated, "the net result ... would be to substitute a legal for a domestic forum in every household' and 'that to put Mothers on an equal footing with Fathers in all matters concerning their children would simply produce deadlock' The notion of 'equality' within the Family is in urgent need of public debate. Within society as a whole citizens have the right to be treated equitably. However certain organisations and institutions necessarily require a hierarchical structure for their efficient and safe operation. These include the management of a business, the administration of a government, the running of a football team or the command of a crew on board a ship. It is patently naïve to suggest that these organisations must exercise the strict adherence to the rules of equality. What necessarily exists within them and also within the Family are differences of social function where different levels of authority are balanced with corresponding differences of levels of liability and accountability. If a Chief Executive makes the wrong decisions we sack him not the Personnel Officer or Head of Research. If a football team gets relegated we sack the manager, not his Physio or Goalkeeper. If a ship founders on the rocks and the crew or cargo are lost it is the Captain who we put on trial, not his Bosun. The married Family is arguably the most important institution in society and its hierarchical structure is as important and necessary as that in any corporation and especially, when it comes to emergency decision-making in these troubled times, like those made by the captain of a ship in a storm,. To continue the analogy, if there is confusion and conflict by the crew in stormy seas and the crew is encouraged to believe by the Ministry for Marine that it can disrespect the orders of its captain and mutiny without reproach the ship will doubtless flounder. That is precisely what is being experienced in the Married Family today. The state, as we have seen, is deceiving Mothers into believing that there is no 'captain on board' yet the state is at the same encouraging Mothers, through the Family courts, to hold their Husband to account if there is Family break-down. The Husband, like the captain in his treatment from the mutinous crew, is literally thrown overboard or 'made to walk the plank.' Rather than reprimand the mutinous crew, the state ensures that they are well rewarded. If the man thrown overboard survives the stormy sea and manages to scramble his way back to dry land he will find the courts waiting for him to force him to continue making payments for the purchase of the boat which he can no longer use and ordered to reward his mutinous crew with the fruits of his labour for the rest of his miserable life. It is no wonder that the suicide rate for Fathers after they have been treated so cynically and unjustly is eight times the rate for the rest of the population. The real dishonesty of the feminist/socialist movement is that rather than deal with the necessary hierarchical structure in the married Family and debate whether, for instance, the Mother should take over the position of being the accountable parent, they have employed deceit and unscrupulous reports and false allegations to poison the good name of Husbands and of Marriage itself. They intend to abolish Marriage all together and force everyone to remain outside of any protected Family unit and instead live as separate individuals who lack any support structure from their immediate or extended families. Once in this vulnerable condition the state can then force them to do its will unopposed. We believe that these revelations of the legal position of men and women within Marriage that the National Men's Council of Ireland have 'uncovered' must lead to an urgent debate amongst every citizen of the country so we can decide what we want to do with the information. Our first priority must be publish the names of the people who have deceived us for so long and put them on trial for the crime of corrupting public morality. This is important as it sets the moral tone of the ensuing discussion as to what we do to safeguard our natural right to found a Family and within the Family unit to have our authority and constitution respected by the state as recognised in the Constitution and in the European Convention on Human Rights. The Constitutional Review Group delegated by the Taoiseach to examine this issue must now take the lead and immediately initiate an educational programme which will show, clearly and without further deception the legal position that exists at present within the married Family and the benefits that flow from this for all the members of the Family and for the common good of society. Based on the new knowledge the People can then have a thorough, searching and sober debate of the issues so they, and not the state, can decide what changes they want to make, if any, to the Constitutional protections of the Family founded on Marriage. |