Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

While there are several responses I could give to Senator Mullen's various comments, I will leave some of those remarks to when we meet outside the Chamber on the campaign trail. The Senator referred to Articles 42 and 44 of the Constitution. Article 42 states that, "The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family" and that parents have the right to ensure children are provided with appropriate education. The first point of Article 44 is that:

The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.

Then, it goes on to refer to the freedom of conscience issues to which my colleague, Senator Mullen, referred. The Senator's amendment puts forward a presumption that one amendment to the Constitution might impact on other articles in a negative way. This is simply a way of trying to put forward the fundamental arguments he has been making fairly consistently, namely, that the child has the right to a mother and father. The Senator makes the presumption that an amendment to the Constitution that is being put before the people and which has been checked and rechecked by all our legal advisers and our Attorney General might somehow impact other articles in a negative way.

The fundamental issue at stake is not the right of a child to a mother and father but the protection of a minority's right to marry by opening a civil institution. While we have all spoken about the issues of love, it is about the protection of a minority's right to marry by opening a civil institution, to be protected and to be able to become a constitutional family.That is what the Government is proposing in this amendment to be put to the people by way of referendum.

All of the issues are interesting and are in the public debate in terms of what is happening, perhaps when people make choices to discriminate in terms of the provision of goods and services. They may be discriminating against people, in this case, in terms of their sexual identity. We already have equality legislation in place in that regard and that is not changing.

My colleague, Senator Mullen, speaks about unforeseen consequences from which he is concerned to protect us. I remind the House of the enormous unforeseen consequences arising from section 37 of the equal status legislation that we are still trying to get changed. In fact there were additional layers in terms of protecting the religious ethos, which in some ways is what I see the Senator is trying to do now, with additional layers of protection over and above what we already have. When there was such an effort a long time ago to add such additional layers, what were the unforeseen consequences? It had extraordinarily negative consequences for teachers, nurses, civil servants and others who participate in various forms of employment who were fearful of revealing their identity, including those with whom they are in partnership. We know about unforeseen consequences and the potential of negative impact, but that is what we are trying to change.

Do we have enough respect for religious ethos in the Constitution already? I argue that we do. Do we have it enough in our legislation? There is an additional layer we need to get rid of. I am absolutely in favour of the protection of religious ethos. However, I would prefer that someday we might change that first part of Article 44.

The Senator asked us to think about what would change if we put this into place. What will change? The people need to continue to reflect on this. A minority is oppressed and is unequal in terms of our Constitution because they do not have access. I am banned from the civil institution of marriage because of my sexual identity. If the referendum is passed they will become free and will become equal to heterosexual couples, who have the right to access that civil institution and marry. That is the fundamental consequence of this amendment if the referendum is passed. We need to keep that centre stage and I hope the people keep it centre stage.

I agree that we need to have some debates in terms of equality legislation, discrimination etc. and those who have freedom of conscience. I do not belittle that. I understand. As Senator Mullen knows, I have had a lot of training on what freedom of conscience means, but it is not ultimately about those consequences. What will change is that a minority will have access to what the majority already has access to.