Michael Fitzpatrick (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this groundbreaking legislation, which shows that Fianna Fáil delivers on its promises when it is in government. My party's commitment to civil partnership was set out in its pre-election manifesto and affirmed in the 2007 programme for Government. This Bill has far-reaching consequences for same-sex couples. For the first time in Irish law, gay and lesbian relationships will be given official recognition. This new legal status is accompanied by a range of rights and responsibilities, including pension rights, succession rights, maintenance obligations and protections in the event of domestic violence. It would be unacceptable in a modern society to continue to ignore same-sex relationships. The over-riding aim of the Bill before the House is to bring about positive changes to same-sex relationships, on profound and practical levels. Some of the provisions in the Bill that have received less publicity are also important. The Bill will introduce financial protections for cohabiting couples in same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. It will make a redress scheme available to unmarried opposite-sex couples and unregistered same-sex couples, so that financially dependent people can enjoy some protection at the end of a long-term cohabiting relationship. The cohabitants' scheme will put in place a legal safety net for people in long-term relationships who may otherwise be financially vulnerable at the end of a relationship, whether through break-up or bereavement. The Bill gives legal recognition to cohabiting agreements, thereby enabling cohabitants to regulate their joint financial and property affairs.

It provides legal certainty on the status of cohabitation agreements made by couples who wish to regulate their financial and property affairs but do not wish to marry or enter into a civil partnership and do not want to be included in the redress scheme. These provisions are particularly important in light of the recent surge in cohabiting couples, which have become the fastest growing form of family unit in the State. Currently, cohabiting couples lack a number of legal protections even where they have been together for years. Contrary to common belief, common law or de facto marriage has no legal standing in Irish law and does not offer legal protection to either partner in the event of a break up of a relationship or the death of a partner.

The civil partnership provisions raise complex legal issues. The Bill has been carefully framed to balance any conflict between the Constitution's special protection for marriage and the rights enshrined in Article 41. Certain material distinctions between civil partnership and marriage therefore remain. For example, there is no provision for the adoption of children by civil partners or for religious ceremonies as the basis for registration of a civil partnership. Were the provisions of the Constitution not addressed, the Bill would have been vulnerable to legal challenge.

The Bill will improve the rights of same sex couples without weakening anyone else's. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform put it best when he stated: "This Bill takes nothing from anyone but what it gives is profound and is positive." Calls have been made to include a clause in the legislation to provide for freedom of religious conscience. This would be a broad provision which would give an absolute right to discriminate against people who are registered as civil partners. Providing such an exemption could lead to serious unintended consequences and the withholding of services. A bank could refuse to allow a couple to operate a joint account, a restaurant could refuse to take a booking for two men or a person may be unable to visit his partner in a hospital run by a religious order. As such outcomes would be contrary to public policy, an exemption based on freedom of conscience could not be contemplated.

Fianna Fáil is the republican party and it is our aim to build a republic founded on the ideals of equality and dignity of every member of the human family. My party stands for an open and inclusive society. Over the past two decades, as Irish society has become more open, Fianna Fáil has been to the forefront of reforming legal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In 1989, a Fianna Fáil Government steered through the Oireachtas the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, which makes it an offence to distribute material or use words and behaviour that is threatening or abusive or likely to foment hatred against persons on certain specified grounds, including sexual orientation. This principle was subsequently extended into the area of broadcasting. Fianna Fáil brought forward the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993, which finally brought an end to the unfair criminalisation of homosexual practices. The Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2004 made it an offence to discriminate against people in employment or in the provision of goods and services on a range of grounds, including sexual orientation. Through these legislative means the State has clearly indicated that individuals are entitled to receive fair and equal treatment, whether they are gay, lesbian or heterosexual.

As the law stands, same sex couples have no way of formalising their relationships in the eyes of the State or society. They obtain no benefits from our tax, welfare and inheritance regimes and cannot assume legally binding obligations to one another. These significant lacunae will be addressed by the Bill before us.

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