Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I join my colleagues in thanking Deputy Howlin for authoring the Civil Unions Bill 2006 and bringing it to the House tonight. This is a moment of some historic importance, as legislation of this nature has never before been presented in this Chamber. I thank my colleagues who have contributed for the passion and conviction they have displayed in addressing the central precepts of the legislation. I thank the other Deputies on the Opposition side of the House who have given the legislation their support, which I acknowledge.

I was at a meeting in my office when this evening's debate started. Some of the participants in the meeting mistook the background noises we could hear for support for the legislation on the part of the Government Deputies addressing the House. I could hear the Deputies making supportive noises, but when I turned up the sound to hear the debate more clearly I listened to Deputies Andrews and Fiona O'Malley squirming and wriggling as they explained that the Bill did not go far enough for them to support it. Deputy O'Malley said "the Bill is not broad enough" to earn her support. My constituency colleague, Deputy O'Connor, started his contribution by thanking Deputy Howlin for producing the Bill, the people in the Visitors Gallery for attending the debate, the Ceann Comhairle for togging out and the stenographers for doing their job. He was just short of thanking the parish priest for the use of the Chamber. He then tried to get to grips with a script, to which he was clearly a stranger, which stated he was against the legislation.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Séan Power, whose remarks I take as being absolutely genuinely intended. I accept that the Bill may cause discomfort to some Members of the House. I acknowledge that their feelings constitute a fair reflection of how certain segments of our population continue to feel. I cannot give any such benefit of the doubt to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, however. Members of the House are accustomed to Ministers' knee-jerk opposition to our legislative proposals. The Minister, Deputy McDowell, prides himself on his reputation as an intellectual with a fine legal brain and a deep familiarity with the Constitution. His descent last night into the depths of shallow humbug, bluster and guff was an embarrassment to his party, its founders and some of its current members, as well as most of his colleagues in the Law Library and all of us who take our politics seriously.

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