Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Another way of looking at it would be that we need to question whether there is a necessity to maintain the marital privilege provision, as the Minister refers to it. The Minister has a concern and the advice of a former Attorney General was that applying it to others in civil partnerships could create constitutional difficulties but perhaps consideration should be given to the existence of the rule in the first instance. The purpose of it - and it is an archaic rule - was not wanting to put spouses in the position of having to give truthful evidence that could damage their relationships with their husbands or, to a lesser extent, their wives or place them in a position that would damage their relationships. We need to give this careful consideration. The reason it is relevant is because the Court of Appeal stated the issue that arose in the case is a matter for the Legislature and we need to give consideration as to whether we should do something about it.

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