David Norris (Independent)

That is such a slavish and disgusting thing.

I want to tell my good friends in the Green Party not to be bought off with this little sop from the Administration to allow them to close the door after the horses have bolted. A committee was established by this House to examine the issue which was then dissolved by the Government. Now, there is another one which contradicts what the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform said to Deputy Michael D. Higgins and myself. It also contradicts what was said by the Garda at the time which I raised at a meeting on foot of complaint I made about extraordinary rendition. The Greens ought to be very careful that they themselves are not renditioned.

Will the Deputy Leader reassure the House of the progress of the Civil Partnership Bill in the light of the very strong comments by Cardinal Seán Brady? I found it a strange priority for the archdiocese of Armagh, when it only has seven seminarians and 130 priests for 200,000 people, to take on the disadvantaged in a manner which, sadly, can only further alienate young people from the church. To make a totem of marriage in the way that it has been done is nothing other than blasphemy. I refer to the gospels of Jesus Christ when he was reprimanded by the pharisees for breaking the Sabbath. He made the point that this was an institution made for man, not man for the institution.