(live-PR.com) - DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - An unmarried father of twin boys must have his children returned to his custody from England, a Dublin judge ruled Tuesday in a landmark judgment for the parental rights of unmarried men.
It was a legal first in Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country where divorce was legalized only a decade ago and courts today award the bulk of child-custody rights to mothers.
Until now, Irish law recognized no custody rights for unmarried fathers, chiefly because Ireland's conservative 1937 constitution emphasizes that such rights flow from marriage and motherhood.
But High Court Justice Liam McKechnie said the man, a school teacher identified in court only as «Mr. G,» was the de-facto joint guardian of the twins before the mother took them without warning to Manchester, northwest England, eight months ago.
McKechnie said he agreed with the man's legal team that the European Convention on Human Rights _ which was incorporated into Irish law in 2003 _ permits no distinction between the guardianship rights of married and unmarried parents.
«I therefore believe that an unmarried father, in such a relationship, should now be treated as having rights of custody for the purposes of the regulation,» he said.
McKechnie noted that until their separation in December 2006, the man and woman lived in a fashion «indistinguishable from the conventional family-based unit.
Mr. G, he said, had been solely responsible for bringing the twins to and from a local child-care center, and also took the woman's older child from a previous relationship to and from school.
He said the mother, a professional singer who was identified publicly only as «Ms. O,» had violated the 27-year-old European child abduction law known as the Hague Convention.
The ruling cleared the way for the High Court in London to order the children's return to Ireland.
Mr. G initially sued in England, where the parental rights of unmarried fathers are already recognized in law. But the London judge handling that case, High Court Justice Mary Fogg, in July postponed her ruling until Irish courts could clarify whether the twins' removal from Ireland infringed domestic law.
Michael McDowell _ a former attorney general, deputy prime minister and justice minister for Ireland _ led Mr. G's legal team.
The mother's lawyers argued that, under the Irish constitution and other family law, the man could not be recognized as one of the children's legal guardians. They declined to say Tuesday whether they would appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court, which is the ultimate arbiter of constitutional law in Ireland.

Men's rights campaigners called on the government to mount a referendum to amend the constitution in line with the ruling.
«It's the first time in Irish history that unmarried fathers have any type of rights. It's an absolutely fantastic, fantastic success, especially for children and extended family,» said Ray Kelly, director of a pressure group called Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland, who attended the judgment.
On the Net
Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland, www.usfi.ie