Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

There should be an obligation and an entitlement for somebody who joins, say, a religious order to make the mother superior or some other member of the community the next of kin. There are some people in the clergy who share my view that it is right that the law reflects a relationship where responsibility and caring exists and helps those relationships rather than ignores them because whether they are homosexual, heterosexual, asexual, intellectual or based on faith communities, that relationship of responsibility and caring, one person for another, is one which should be supported by the law and not disregarded by the law on the basis that it is not marriage per se. That is what the Government amendment proposes.

Having heard what Senator Henry said in opening the debate and having considered the text of the Government amendment, it is not a matter on which we should divide.