Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I do not understand why the Members in the Front Bench of the Labour Party are laughing. They must have taken their happy pills this morning.

The Minister will bring forward the heads of the Bill by the end of March as outlined in the Government amendment. It ill behoves those of us who have known the delights of happiness in marriage and mourned its passing to be smug about our happy state or relationships. How can we be when we know there are many others who do not enjoy the opportunities given to those in traditional marriages? We seek to bring these opportunities forward for them, not through marriage but in the form of a partnership. The point of no return in the Labour Party Bill is that it would lead to challenges on the explicit issue of safeguarding marriage as defined in our Constitution. Everybody would agree with that safeguard. That does not mean we do not have regard for, and determination to bring forward, legislation which will withstand any challenge and to which we can give our full consent.

There will be no challenge to bringing it forward. Why should we not consent to it? I support the Government amendment and look forward to debating the heads of the Bill next spring and to the legislation. It was included in the programme for Government and the debate over these two days has been useful because it allowed us to restate the firm commitment of both parties to bringing it to fruition.

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