Session 2: Marriage and Intimacy

3rd Global Conference

Friday 6th November – Sunday 8th November 2009
Salzburg, Austria

Frustration of Access – How can we Prevent It?
Anne Egan
School of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Following the breakdown of a marriage or relationship, the right of a child to visit the non-custodial parent is governed in Ireland by the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964. This statute permits the court to make an order for access so that the non-custodial parent (usually the father) is given permission to visit the child at specific dates and times. In some instances, the custodial parent may attempt to frustrate access, either by not facilitating the visit by making the child unavailable at the agreed times, or by making false or malicious allegations against the other parent in an attempt to deny access to the child.

This paper explores the problem of frustration of access. It discusses the results of an interview based study undertaken by the author using qualitative research principles whereby the interviewees, being practitioners; separated, divorced and unmarried fathers and mothers were asked their opinion on this issue. It in particular, focuses on the impact of frustration of access on the non-custodial parent. This paper concludes by examining the sanctions available where frustration of access occurs, and in particular, will consider the feasibility of enforcement remedies available in both New Zealand and Australia. Both of the latter jurisdictions encourage a more sociological approach to sanctions as they promote counselling and compensatory time to the non custodial parent, instead of the more legal approach adopted in Ireland which is to re-enter the order before the Court.

Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)

Eros and Friendship in Marriage
Corazon T. Toralba
University of Asia and the Pacific, The Philippines

Through erotic love human beings are born while through friendship, a person becomes the kind of being that he ought to be. This paper will explore the importance of these two concepts in marriage, the basis of the family. The thoughts of Wojtyla on sexual urge and Aristotle’s notion of friendship will be the basis of exploring the significance of these notions in the basic institutions – marriage and family- that are under fire due to forces that try to undermine them. Such forces are fuelled by ideologies that seem to separate the corporeal from the spiritual, the individual from the social. Such is the consequence of man’s fragmentation, a remnant of the Cartesian dichotomy. In this essay, the seeming chasm that dichotomize the human being would be examined historically and see how Eros and friendship could bridge that gap to make man whole again. Related controversial issues on homosexual rights will be explored from the anthropological, ontological and ethical perspectives. The study will unfold in three parts: first, an exposition on the present situation of marriage and family and its ideological roots; second, an account of the notion of sexual urge as explained by Wojtyla on his book Love and Responsibility and Aristotle’s notion of friendship in Nichomachean Ethics; lastly, the integration of the two to address the issues laid out in the first part.

Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)