Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tugaim fáilte roimh an deis chun labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo, agus tacaíonn Sinn Féin go hiomlán leis an mBille. Feicimid níos faide, áfach, ach glacaimid leis agus tacaímid go hiomlán le cearta a bheith ag cúpla den ghnéas céanna pósadh agus clann a bhunadh. Ar ndóigh tacaímid chomh maith le cearta siúd nach bhfuil pósta, nó cúpla nach bhfuil den ghnéas céanna a bheith páirteach le chéile mar atá leagtha amach ins an mBille seo.

I recall when were discussing the Civil Registration Bill in 2003 that Sinn Féin tried to provide for equal recognition of same-sex marriage. In our amendment we did not get the support of the Government or some of the Opposition parties, regretfully. However, we continued and tried again in the Equality Bill in 2004 to allow for a more inclusive definition of the term "marital status" to recognise same-sex partnerships. Again, the initiative was shot down by the Government. We made a submission to the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution calling for the definition of the family to be extended to include same-sex couples. Once again we did not get the support of the Government parties.

When the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and other Government members lecture the Labour Party and those who are supporting the Bill about how great they are and how far they have gone, I need only remind them of those examples. That has been the experience of my party. Other parties have been represented in the House a good deal longer and put in much more work on this issue than we have managed to do. I call on the Government to withdraw its amendment, even at this late stage, and allow the Bill to pass on Second Stage. There is an urgent necessity for rights to be included for civil partnerships such as inheritance, adoption, visitation and residency. Therefore, we support their implementation, even though it is our belief that it does not amount to full equality.

We recognise, too, that some couples, both heterosexual and same sex, do not wish to marry and only want civil partnership status. Therefore, we are supporting the Bill. However, ultimately, full equality for gay men and lesbians will only be achieved by allowing those who wish to marry to do so. The Government's delaying tactics are a disgrace and we will oppose its obstruction of the Bill at the end of this Second Stage debate. I remind it that it has obligations to introduce equality protections for these communities under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement's equivalence provisions. Britain's Gender Recognition Act 2004 and Civil Partnership Act 2004 mean that lesbian and gay couples in the Six Counties now have broadly equivalent rights to those enjoyed by married couples. Both the Equality Authority and the NESF have called for the State to level up its equality legislation by introducing similar provisions. The report, endorsed by the Equality Authority in the State and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, entitled Equivalence in Promoting Equality, launched in December 2005, states that the reforms:

. . .need not precisely replicate UK legislation. However, legislation is required to protect and give effect to equal treatment of transsexual people and lesbian and gay couples under the equivalence requirement [of the Good Friday Agreement].

There is an obligation to which the Government has not lived up. Many times the Minister has lectured republicans on our obligations under the Good Friday Agreement. It is time he lived up to his obligations and those of the Government on this issue and in the light of the Good Friday Agreement. I hope, even at this late stage, the Government will get sense and withdraw its amendment.

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