Ms Moninne Griffith:

Marriage Equality welcomes the general scheme as a major reform of family law which will reflect the complexity of family life in Ireland today. As complex as the legal details may be, however, the spirit of the legislation is clear. It is intended to legislate for the reality of children's lives in Ireland with their best interests paramount. The vast majority of children whose lives will be improved on foot of the legislation are born to heterosexual parents. However, we welcome the opportunity to address the committee as the legislation also has the potential to solve many of the practical day-to-day legal difficulties faced by children in same-sex families. I offer a snapshot of the reality for children in Ireland growing up in same-sex families, which will hopefully demonstrate why the Bill is such an urgent matter.

Currently, loving and committed same-sex couples cannot marry in Ireland. Since 2011 and the introduction of civil partnership, same-sex relationships are now recognised in Ireland and granted many of the rights and obligations available to married heterosexual couples. However, research published by Marriage Equality in 2011 entitled "Missing Pieces" highlighted many legislative differences between civil marriage and civil partnership. The most distressing of these gaps - especially for those of us who are parenting - relate to children and parents in same-sex families. The gaps range across lack of rights on access, maintenance, custody, inheritance, guardianship and the complete lack of any mechanism for a child to have a legally recognised relationship with his or her non-biological parent or parents. All over Ireland, mums and dads who are lesbian or gay are raising kids in loving homes and doing the best they can for their children, just like other parents. However, they live their lives in a precarious and insecure legal lacuna.

As the Ombudsman for Children said in relation to the civil partnership bill in her report in July 2010:

It should be borne in mind that this is not a hypothetical problem. The omission of robust protections for the children of civil partners will have real consequences for the young people concerned and it is in their interests that the law reflect and provide for the reality of their lives.

In 2010, Marriage Equality asked a group of young adult children who had grown up in same-sex families what it was like for them growing up in Ireland. We published what they had to say in a report called Voices of Children. They told us about their vision of an Ireland where human rights for all children was a lived reality. They also told us about their experiences of growing up in Ireland and the impact the lack of marriage equality and other legal gaps had on their lives. They described experiences of homophobia in public spaces such as in schools, in contact with the health services and in private spaces such as friends' homes ranging from parents not being allowed collect them from schools because they were not recognised as a legal parent or guardian to one boy's friend not being allowed to play in his home because he had two mums.
In September 2010, Marriage Equality held a Voices of Children conference where national and international experts and advocates from areas such as child law and psychology came together with young adults who had grown up in same-sex families, LGBT parents and people working with children.