Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is perverse that we will have gender recognition legislation which will require a person who is happily married to divorce his or her partner or terminate a civil partnership simply because of the fact he or she is changing gender. I recognise the Minister of State’s legal difficulties and that court proceedings are in train. However, I do not believe we should close down for the summer recess and have this Bill on the Statute Book as drafted. If that was to be the case, we would need the strongest possible guarantee that these criteria would be removed at the earliest possible moment. On Second Stage I argued that it would be possible to go ahead with this measure, even in the absence of the marriage equality referendum decision. However, the Government was like certain national media outlets which recently took an unduly cautious approach to the law. It is an anomaly and a blight on the legislation. Will the Minister of State give us a timeline for its removal?