Ireland United for Life PRO John Brown has issued the following press release:
“Ireland’s new Fine Gael-Labour government has agreed to establish a Constitutional Convention to consider same-sex marriage among other things. Both parties support same sex marriage and this is a real and present danger. It is unmistakable that they are determined to go all the way in granting full marriage rights to same sex partners,” said John Brown of Ireland United for Life.
At the end of last week the Fine Gael-Labour coalition continued their attack when they passed amendments to the Finance and Social Welfare Bills. This was scarcely reported and occurred as they, according to news reports, “Declared War on the Vatican” over the Cloyne abuse report.
The “Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010” came into force on 1st January 2011. The Act will dramatically alter the landscape of family law in Ireland. It deals with civil partnership for same sex partners and with cohabitants, which includes both same sex and heterosexual relationships.
Fine Gael party Chairman, Charlie Flanagan, now director of elections for Gay Mitchell’s 2011 Irish Presidency bid, speaking as Justice Spokesperson on the first day of the debate on the Civil Partnership Bill in 2009, proclaimed a wish that civil partnership would be a step towards equality. Crucially Fine Gael’s Flanagan said, “While many welcome [the civil partnership bill], others believe it does not go far enough. To those people I would say that change is incremental and I hope that full equality is not far away.”
The bill passed all stages on 1 July 2010 with cross-party support resulting in it passing without a vote and was signed into law by President Mary Mc Aleese on 19th July 2010. Marriage in Ireland is currently regulated by the Civil Registration Act 2004, Section 2 restates the Common Law definition of marriage and according to section 2(2)(e) a marriage would be invalid if both parties to a marriage are of the same sex. However, the “Bill” grants same sex partners several rights now only granted to married couples. Irish Law allows same sex people to adopt children as individuals while allowing same sex partners to jointly foster.
The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform was founded in the 1970s , its founding members including Senator David Norris, now seeking nomination for President of Ireland; and current and former President of Ireland Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, both outspoken defenders of same sex rights. Coincidentally, the task of signing an Irish Bill decriminalising homosexual acts fell to the then President of Ireland, Mary Robinson who as a barrister and Senior Counsel had represented Norris in a European Court of Human Rights case, in the case of Norris V Ireland, which ruled that the criminalisation of homosexuality in the Republic violated Article 8 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to privacy in personal affairs. Norris introduced a Private Members Bill entitled Civil Partnership Bill, in 2004, which led to the current Bill.
“Ireland does not allow same-sex marriage however progressive liberals are determined to brush aside the family as we know it. People must wake up and understand that unless we give the ultimatum of political annihilation, starting with the race for the Irish Presidency, then Ireland’s government is determined to go all the way, setting aside Irelands Constitutional protection for husband and wife, including the rights of parents as primary educators; and grant full marriage rights to same sex partners”, concluded John Brown.
