David Norris (Independent)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 6, between lines 10 and 11, but in Part 1, to insert the following:

""Spouse" shall be construed to include marriages and civil partnerships between persons of the same sex which would be recognised in other jurisdictions.".

This is an attempt redefine the term "spouse" to include same sex couples. In an extraordinary move a number of years ago, the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Mary Coughlan, on foot of a decision by the Equality Tribunal which found a case of serious discrimination and violation of human rights because a transport company had denied the same rights to a spouse in a same sex relationship that were available to heterosexual couples whether they were married or not, chose not to address this discrimination but copperfastened the violation of human rights by redefining "spouse" to exclude people. We were told, four or five years ago by the then Minister, Deputy Coughlan, that this matter would be addressed speedily and was a temporary tidying-up operation. It has been consistently long-fingered.

It is disgraceful that this Government, as far as I know, is the only one in Europe to have introduced highly discriminatory legislation of any kind against citizens in the last 15 years. Citizens were reassured by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, that they had exactly the rights, that it was the responsibility of the law to justify and vindicate those rights, and that sexual orientation must never be used as a reason for discriminating against people. In an attempt to be helpful, as I always am, I tabled this amendment to address this glaring, blatant and mean-minded attack on the civil and human rights of a vulnerable minority.