Family and Relationships

If you have parental responsibilities, or caring responsibilities or experience pregnancy during your studies in Trinity please refer to our comprehensive Policy on Supports for Student Parents, Student Carers and Students Experiencing Pregnancy. The Senior Tutor's website also has a wealth of Information for Students with Children, outlining the support available to student parents for academic, financial, and other matters.

Trinity is committed to creating a collegiate work environment that is conducive to quality work, study and the attainment of a healthy work-life balance through practical policies on core meeting hours, shorter working year, family-related leave, etc.

Please see the HR webpage on work-life balance for further details.

The Day Nursery provides care for children of students and staff from 3 months to 4.5 years. The Sports Centre offers a range of benefits and activities for members, including the annual Family Fun Day and mid-term Sports Camps for Children.

Trinity is a breastfeeding-friendly campus, meaning that breastfeeding is welcome in any of the public areas, and information about breastfeeding facilities, support groups and other initiatives can be found at Healthy Trinity.

The Equality Policy and the Dignity and Respect Policy protect all members of the University community from discrimination, bullying, and harassment; this includes discrimination, bullying, and/or harassment relating to civil status (i.e. are you married, in a civil partnership, divorced...) or family status (i.e. are you a parent or do you have other significant caring responsibilities). Don't hesitate to contact the Equality Officer or the Dignity and Respect Contact Persons (listed in the policy) for advice on these matters.

The Policy on Supports for Student Parents, Student Carers and Students Experiencing Pregnancy lays down good practice guidelines for accommodating students who have parental/caring responsibilities or who experience pregnancy at any point during their time in Trinity.

The family and Civil Status of Trinity staff are presented in the Annual Equality Monitoring Reports. The family and civil status of students are not collected at present.

The Employment Equality Act 1998 (as amended) outlaws discrimination within employment related to nine grounds including civil status (i.e. are you married, in a civil partnership, divorced...) and family status (i.e. are you a parent or do you have other significant caring responsibilities); the Equal Status Act (as amended) also outlaws discrimination on the basis of civil and family status. Please see our legislation webpages for further information.

These protections apply to people in (or formerly in) a civil partnership equally as to married/divorced people. The Marriage Equality Act 2015 has extended the right to marry to same-sex couples, without affecting existing civil partnerships. The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 contains many provisions reflecting the diversity of Irish family structures (e.g. unmarried fathers, grandparent guardians, etc.)

• One Family: Better Lives for One-Parent Families
• Treoir: Information for Unmarried Parents
• Caring for Family Carers Ireland