This report was written to promote understanding and appreciation of the role of fathers in family life. The growing interest in the role of fathers within families is shaped by a number of factors including the diversification of family forms such as two parent families based on cohabitation and remarriage as well as one parent families constituted through divorce and births outside marriage, the effect of which is to create a typology of fathers. The traditional model of the family in Ireland, where two parents live together with their children and where the father is the sole breadwinner, is still the norm for around half of all families. However, nearly four out of ten Irish families have two parents working while more than a tenth live in one-parent households. While there is a growing recognition in policy circles that family-friendly are needed, research suggests that fathers are less likely to avail of these measures than women. This report also outlines the Irish Constitution and fathers, married or otherwise and the impact that fathers can have on children; economically, educationally and behaviourally.