Mary White (Fianna Fail)

The programme for Government states that the Government is "committed to full equality for all in society". It goes on to state, "Taking account of the options paper prepared by the Colley group, we will legislate for civil partnerships at the earliest possible date in the lifetime of the Government." I welcome this commitment to "full equality" and to legislate for civil partnerships. The two commitments go hand in hand and complement each other. They represent the working out of the principle of equality, as enshrined in the Constitution, EU treaties and international human rights conventions, which has led to considerable changes for the better in the legislative rights and institutional protections for gay and lesbian members of our society in the past 15 years.

The passing of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 was a momentous achievement which brought to an end a long history of criminalisation of homosexual practices. It reflected the perseverance over many years of a Member of this House, Senator Norris, in campaigning for such a change. The commitment of the former Fianna Fáil Minister, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, to persuading the wider public of the fairness, equity and appropriateness of the change was also a crucial factor. Bringing the wider public along with the wisdom of supporting changes in acceptable sexual mores or the nature of the family unit is as desirable now as it was in the case of the decriminalisation of homosexual practices in 1993.

The equality legislation enacted in subsequent years marked the continued progression of the achievement of equity for gay and lesbian citizens. The Employment Equality Act 1998 outlaws discrimination in accessing employment and conditions of employment and the Equal Status Act 2000 prohibits discrimination in the supply of goods and services to anyone because of their sexualorientation. The Equality Authority is active in promoting compliance with these legislative rights.

Another legislative milestone in the progression of rights and protections for gay and lesbian persons will shortly come before us, namely, the legislation for civil partnerships. This is a difficult and emotional issue for many people in our society who will see it as a further erosion of what they consider the core of our society, namely, the traditional heterosexual family unit. That perspective is enshrined in our Constitution, at Article 41.3.1, which states, "the State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded" and to protect it against attack .

It is incumbent on us as legislators to respect and recognise the fears and apprehensions of many of our fellow citizens that civil partnership legislation may represent a further weakening of the traditional family unit. It is further incumbent on us to do our best to respond to these genuinely held fears of new legislation, as Máire Geoghegan-Quinn did so well in 1993, by explaining with our own conviction that civil partnership legislation provides rights and protections in law to same sex couples that any decent society would seek to provide.

I fully support the protections the civil partnership legislation will provide. It is a further mark of our maturity as a society and the sense of decency and fairness we would like to see embedded in our laws to provide these protections. There are many, including those proposing this motion, who regard the civil partnership legislation as insufficient. I contend that it marks a substantial step forward. As Senator Ó Murchú observed, what we are doing now would have been seen as progressive only a year ago. There is a clear urgency on the part of the Government in putting in place the rights and protections of civil partnerships for thousands of our fellow citizens. We look forward to same sex couples availing of the right to civil partnerships at the earliest possible date and enabling them to celebrate their new status. The discussion of the differences between civil partnerships and traditional marriage is one for another day, taking account of the constitutional and social issues involved.