JUDGES frequently make child maintenance orders against men on state benefits whose marriages have broken down – leaving many living below national insolvency guidelines.

The first major survey of Ireland’s Circuit Courts, where 98pc of judicial separation and divorce cases are heard, also reveals that the “standard access” for married dads to their children after separation is “a couple of hours” every second week – with a few hours once or twice during the week.

The four-year study, approved by the Department of Justice and funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC), has exposed a series of injustices in Ireland’s overburdened family law system, with judges – interviewed for the first time – requesting training to deal with young children, parental conflict and help for huge caseloads that…