Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the Senator's initial point about the importance of this work, it is essential. When the Constitution does not reflect somebody's situation it is very frustrating. One of the arguments I made during the marriage referendum was that marriage is a constitutionally protected institution that I would have liked the opportunity to access at some time should I so choose. The fact that our Constitution does not recognise a very large swathe of families in the country is not acceptable.

In terms of what the wording is, much work has been done in the past. There was an initial task force that met between 2014 and 2016. It came up with two options. Then there was the working group that operated during the last Government. Its options were a total removal of Article 41.2, a removal of Article 41.2 and a replacement with putting "care" into it or a removal of Article 41.2 and referencing care in Article 45. A lot of work has been done on what the options are, but what I am not clear on is how we all come together and decide on which option. That is not something my Department can determine unilaterally. There has to be a coming together on the point. That is where I see possibly one of the biggest pieces of work. We all know the options and the pros and cons and arguments about the different options, but how do we come together as an Oireachtas and decide on the route we take?