Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is that term "durable" in European law but Irish constitutional law can have a different meaning. Most importantly, the wording in the citizenship directive only refers to cohabitee relationships. We are very clear, when we are amending our Constitution to include durable relationships, that we are talking about cohabitee relationships and one-parent family relationships as well. We are very clear on that. Looking at the term "the family" in other constitutional articles, particularly Article 42, which is the article on the family, it is very clear that the term "family" includes children. I thank the Deputy for raising those points. I hope I have been able to bring an element of clarity to them.

Deputies Verona Murphy and Connolly spoke about constitutional interpretation. Deputy Murphy spoke about precision and exactitude in our Constitution. Our Constitution is a broad-brush document. That is the nature of constitutions; they are higher level. Words and phrases of the Constitution do get interpreted. That is a feature of our legal system. The courts and, finally, the Supreme Court will give interpretations of language and the Supreme Court will interpret any changes we make. Right now, family is not actually defined in our Constitution other than by its link to marriage. There is no constitutional expression that clearly says what is or is not a family other than marriage. We are maintaining the understanding of the family but we are also broadening it to include durable relationships. It is important we give those guardrails or directions to the court in terms of the type of relationships we are seeking to protect while, at the same time, not being so prescriptive in the Constitution that certain families, where there may be an intensely durable relationship, may end up being left outside.

If we put a very prescriptive and detailed definition into the Constitution, there will be families left out. We are giving guidance to the courts but the courts can ultimately decide in individual cases, does a relationship represent a durable relationship and therefore constitute protection for the family.

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