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Labour motion seeks to advance Civil Unions Bill

Issued : Sunday 28 October, 2007

The Labour Party will use its private members time in the Dail this week for a motion that would restore to the Order Paper, a Labour Party Private Members Bill, the Civil Unions Bill, designed to give full legal recognition to same sex unions. The motion, which will be debated in the Dail on Wednesday and Thursday, would also require the Dail Committee on Justice to complete its consideration of the Committee Stage of the Bill by the end of 2007.

The Civil Unions Bill would create a status relationship equivalent to marriage for the benefit of people who are of the same sex and who, under the current constitutional understanding of marriage, cannot marry each other. It provides that, in most respects, the rules of law applying to marriage will also apply to civil unions.

The Labour Party Spokesperson on Constitutional Matters and Law Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, said that the enactment of the Bill would represent a very significant step towards the provision of full equality for gay and lesbian citizens and particular for those in same sex relationships.

"I brought this Bill to the Dail in February of this year when it was supported by the Green Party and was praised by many individual TDs on the government benches. However, when the Bill finished Second Stage the then Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, did not have the courage to oppose it outright and instead used a procedural device to have the Second Reading postponed for a period of six months. He was well aware that this would be after the general election and that the Labour bill would fall with the dissolution of the 29th Dail.

"I am now tabling this motion to reactive the Bill because, while the Programme for Government says that the Coalition will legislate for civil partnership, there is no sign of it attaching any priority to this issue at all.

"I believe that there has now been sufficient time devoted to consultations and discussion of the issue. Gay and Lesbian citizens are entitled to expect the Dail to legislate to ensure that they have the same basic rights as other citizens. I am also confident that Irish society has matured and attitudes changed sufficiently to stage where a majority of our people would have no problem with legislation that would provide same-sex couples with the same rights and duties that are generally available to married couples.

I hope that the government will now face up to their responsibilities to all our citizens. I hope that they will not try to dodge the issue as they did in February last and that they will not oppose our motion, thus allowing the Bill to proceed towards final enactment.