Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

As Deputies stated, considerable discussion took place on this issue on Committee Stage. I did not take Committee Stage myself but I have seen the proceedings on it. We stated we would re-examine the matter and on balance, while we can understand the import of what the amendments are trying to do we felt it would be better to await the passing of the Civil Partnership Bill which will also deal with the issue of cohabitants and same sex relationships. This Bill is strictly on money laundering and it would be preferable that the full gamut of relationships and family relationship structures would be dealt with at that stage. Originally the term "cohabitant" was not in the Bill. It has been included in the Bill to capture persons who are known as "de facto" and who would therefore be subject to the same level of scrutiny as persons in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition in section 36(10). Given that we are bringing forward the Civil Partnership Bill we think it is better to deal with it at that stage.

See this speech in context