Ms Alice Murphy:

No, I would not. These agreements are governed by Irish law and only by Irish law. Canon Law does not have the force of law in Ireland. It has the status of the law of a foreign jurisdiction. We often use the example that if a community of French people came and set themselves up in the midlands of Ireland, they might internally bind themselves to the rules of French law, but that does not give it the force of law here. Canon Law governs the faith lives of communities of religious organisations in this country and throughout the world.