Approximately 60 unmarried and separated fathers have held a protest in Dublin city centre against the family-law system they claim denies them parental access to their children.
Single fathers claim they have been denied contact with their children and that access orders are "worthless" when denied visiting rights.
The protest is the latest in a series of moves to highlight the issue by a range of groups including the Parents' Defence Campaign, Parental Equality, Laois Men's Support Group and Gingerbread Ireland.
They are campaigning to allow fathers greater access to and involvement with their children, following the break-up of relationships with the mothers.
The European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, both ratified by the Republic, hold that a child has a right to a relationship with both parents. However, because the Constitution upholds the rights of "the family based on marriage", single fathers say the rights of married parents, rather than those of children, have been seen as paramount.
Today's protest was addressed by Irish Timescolumnist Mr John Waters.