Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I oppose the amendment, too. The inclusion of the word "partnership" is fine, but the inclusion of the term "non-marital relationships" could cover many forms of relationship not of an intimate variety. There can be partnerships in business, etc. This change would water down the Title of the Bill and make it so broad that it would cover almost every form of relationship in society. Each of us has plenty of relationships of various forms. We had a good debate on Second Stage. It would be a shame if the debate on the Committee Stage amendments were to degenerate into insults and name calling. I hope we can try to keep this out of the debate.