Athlone man chairs European Dads' group

An Athlone man recently addressed the European Parliament in Brussels after being elected chairman of a non-governmental organisation focusing on the issues of fatherhood and child relations across the continent. Joe Egan, a native of Summerhill, was recently elected to the role with the newly-formed 'Platform for European Fathers'. The Athlone IT lecturer has been involved in groups campaigning for parental equality for the last two and a half years. He is a father of two whose marriage broke up four and a half years ago. After the break-up Mr Egan had to travel to Navan to attend support group meetings, and this influenced his decision to start a voluntary support group closer to home. In 2009 he set up the Irish Men's Network, which meets in Athlone every Monday evening and has been attended by 230 fathers since its inception.A year later he helped found Men's Support Groups of Ireland, a national umbrella organisation for support groups of this kind. He also became chairman of Parental Equality, which is a group campaigning for legislative change. These involvements led to his invitation to Brussels for the foundation of the new European organisation in late June. The Platform for European Fathers is currently comprised of fathers' groups from twelve nations. Its establishment was supported by Marije Cornelissen, a Green MEP from the Netherlands, and its initiator and founder Pieter Tromp is also a native of the Netherlands. At the initial meeting, Mr Egan was unanimously elected chairman of the organisation for a one-year period. The following day he addressed the European Parliament, which he said was an amazing experience. He is a firm believer in shared parenting (in which children spend a week with one parent and then a week with the other) as a default arrangement in cases where parents have separated. "The focus of our current legal system is on pitting parents against each other in the courts, but shared parenting forces the father and mother to find a way of working together in the best interests of the children," he said. The first initiative being undertaken by the Platform for European Fathers is an audit of family law as it currently stands across the continent. It is hoped that this will ultimately lead to an EU directive on best practice to be followed in cases were a parental relationship breaks down. The organisation will also press for the introduction across Europe of a standard two week period of paid paternity leave for fathers of newborn children. "There has to be a better alternative to the current system. If the EU can produce a directive to ensure that we can all buy straight bananas, which is ridiculous, you would have to hope that we will be able to do something in this area. "The creation of a non-governmental organisation at European level to act as a voice for men is a no-brainer. I'm surprised it has taken this long for its formation, and I think it can only go from strength to strength." Mr Egan said the issues involved affect almost everybody. "I don't think there are too many people who don't know someone involved in a bad break-up of a relationship." The recession has resulted in an "epidemic" of cases in which the loss of a job contributed to marital strain and the break-up of relationships, he stated. To date the weekly meetings of the Irish Men's Network in Athlone have attracted some 230 fathers "almost exclusively through word of mouth." Mr Egan said if people were having difficulties as a result of these issues and needed somebody to contact they could reach him on 085 7469342, by email at msgi.founder@gmail.com or see the Men's Support Groups of Ireland website at: www.msgi.ie