Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I might take more time to speak tomorrow but I will move the adjournment of the debate in two minutes. I commend the Minister on bringing the legislation before the House, not before time I suppose. Critics of the legislation are very worried about the effect it will have on the family or what they envisage a family to be. It is quite clear at this stage that what they envisage a family to be is quite different to what a family is in the society in which we now live.

As Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out in his contribution, it is not that long ago that the status of illegitimacy was removed from Irish law. I suppose there were people at the time who forecast that the sky would fall in but that has not happened in any way. Now, one third of children in the State are not born within a married family.

The history of the Irish Constitution and the State has been based on a family founded on marriage and the concept of a Christian marriage. The very concept of a Christian marriage is not static. It was developed in the middle ages and for historical reasons drew quite heavily on Roman law.

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