News

By Hilary White
 
  DUBLIN, November 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Irish coalition government is opposing a Labour party Civil Partnerships bill by introducing its own legislation that is likely to offer homosexual partners a status equivalent to marriage.
 
  The Labour party of the Irish Parliament, or Dáil, introduced legislation last February that proposed to create officially recognised same-sex civil partnerships in the same way as the Civil Partnership Act did in the UK, two years ago. While 86.8 per cent of the Irish population claims to be Roman Catholic, adherence to the traditional religious beliefs has declined severely in recent years. Between 1996 and 2001, regular Mass attendance declined from 60 to 48 per cent.
 
  In response to the Labour bill, the government has pledged to bring forward its own civil unions legislation by March 30th. Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said, “The Government has asked me to prepare a Bill which will provide for the registration of civil partnerships of same sex couples.”
 
  Mr Lenihan said, “It will also provide protection for other relationships which lie outside marriage but which may be heterosexual or same sex.”
 
  The Labour party bill proposes to include same-sex “partners” into any legal definition or use of terms such as “married couple”, “spouse”, “family”, “dependent”, “next of kin”.
 
  In considering the issue, the government established the Colley Working Group in 2006. The paper produced by that committee offered only two options: gay “marriage” or fully recognised “civil partnerships” that are equivalent to marriage in everything but the name.
 
  The Programme for Government introduced this June says, “This Government is committed to full equality for all in our society. Taking account of the Options Paper prepared by the Colley Group and the pending Supreme Court Case, we will legislate for Civil Partnerships at the earliest possible date in the lifetime of the Government”.
 
  The Labour bill was tabled in February, but was dropped when the Dáil was dissolved in April. All the parties and individual members who had supported the Civil Union Bill last February now have a majority in the lower house.