John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am supposed to be sharing my time with Deputy O'Reilly, if she comes into the Chamber.

Sinn Féin will support the Bill as it is largely technical in nature. The Bill marks welcome progress in finally commencing key parts of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, four years after it was passed. I wish to comment on the delays in its commencement.

The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 represented the first time the State recognised the diversity of families, including same-sex parent led families, and was pivotal in winning the referendum on civil marriage equality. It was a referendum in which there were plenty of hurtful conversations about the ability of same-sex couples to raise families. Thankfully, all parties strongly endorsed the notion that family formations were varied and should all be embraced and protected by the State. Four years on from when the legislation was passed by these Houses, Parts 2, 3 and 9 have yet to be commenced. In effect, our laws do not protect these families. Families have started and the children have grown without the legal protections that they should be afforded. This means in reality that under the current law, the non-birth mothers have no legal relationship to their child. They cannot give consent for emergency medical treatment, extend their citizenship for passports, access parental benefits, do not have automatic succession rights to their children and cannot fight for custody as legally recognised parents if their marriage breaks down. The birth mother has to sign a legal affidavit proclaiming herself to be the sole parent if she wishes the child to be recognised at all, which is an insult and an unnecessary stigmatisation process. As Part 9, with which the Bill deals, has not been dealt with in the four years since its enactment, there have been some very harsh situations related to the lack of parental rights. Many more families speak regularly to Sinn Féin representatives about the feelings they have about their families not yet being legally recognised. One such mother said:

[A]s the non-biological mother, one of the biggest emotions I feel right now is anxiety. It is taking over what should be some of the happiest days of our lives. This anxiety comes from knowing that despite being a mom to my baby, my name won’t go on the birth certificate, and that I will have no legal rights to my own child, solely due to the fact that it is my wife who is the birth mother and not me. Anxiety from being made a second class citizen, fighting to have our rights as parents recognised. Anxiety (and a bit of humiliation) from having to email my employer’s HR department and ask them to please ensure my parental benefits will be intact, even though legally I won’t be a parent at all, despite being a mom. Anxiety that comes lying awake at night from wondering what will happen to our child if something were to happen to my wife.

When this issue was last debated in the House, when the Minister brought the Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill 2018 to the House to fix typographical errors in the principal Act, he stated Parts 2 and 3 which were to be commenced in tandem with Part 9 would be commenced by October 2018. He has failed to deliver on this commitment. It was the sixth time his Department had failed to meet its own deadlines in commencing Parts 2 and 3. The lack of Government priority given to the issue is shocking and reflects very poorly on the Departments involved. In June 2018 the Minister's Department was quoted in an article in Gay Community Newsas stating there was no legislative barrier to commencing Part 9, that it was down to scheduling the training of HSE registrars. That was over three years on from the enactment of the Children and Family Relationships Bill and the typos we are discussing tonight still had not been identified. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Departments involved simply have not prioritised the commencement orders highly.

The commencement orders were due to be made one year after passing the legislation. It is now just under four years since both Houses endorsed the legislation. Families have spent those four years aghast at the Government consistently letting them down and missing deadlines. They have written to our representatives about the upset they feel when the Minister's Department circulates press releases that do not state this is a typographical Bill that still requires the commencement of Part 9 and that the Children and Family Relationships Act only applies to some same-sex parents, with no reference to the upset or frustration the Department has caused owing to the delays. It was largely seen as Government spin in trying to gain good public relations from being inattentive in its duties and it insulted many who await recognition.

Will the Government give us any indication as to when the families will, at long last, be recognised before the law and when Parts 2, 3 and 9 will finally be commenced? We should consider that every time either the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection or the Department of Health has given commitments or deadlines to the parents affected, they have been let down repeatedly. Members have received these deadlines via the replies to parliamentary questions and relayed them to the parents in good faith, but they have been let down. This is the time for an honest appraisal of where we are in the commencement of Parts 2, 3 and 9. It is not for us but for the parents who have been waiting for four years or who are expecting children and are concerned that the legislation will not be in place prior to the birth of their child. Will the Minister address this issue? I understand a number of parents are watching online. Some of our party staff were told yesterday in the Department's briefing that the most recent delay was on Department of Health's side. The latest delays are not on public record. It is something of which the parents affected should be aware. We will support the Bill, but our patience has grown very thin with the Government's inaction on the issue.

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