When Dad is nowhere to be seen

Novelist Martin Amis has been writing about the experience of meeting his daughter Delilah for the first time - when she was all of 19 years old.

Amis knew of his daughter's existence from the time she was two years old, but ignored her on his mother's advice.

He had also abandoned his two sons to live with an heiress in New York; fatherhood, clearly, was not top of Amis's agenda.

However, three years ago he did eventually have a daughter, because, he says, he "wanted to raise a girl".

For many Irish children, being effectively fatherless is a common experience. And in years to come, there's no doubt that adult children will begin seeking out the fathers whose presence in their lives was denied to them.

It is a huge loss, because children with supportive fathers or father figures actively involved in their upbringing score higher on basic learning tests, have higher self-esteem, get on better with their peers and show fewer signs of depression than the children of single mothers, according to a study at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.