Rónán Mullen (Independent)

There is considerable merit to this amendment and I say this as somebody who had significant concerns about the civil partnership legislation which I need not rehearse here. I do not know whether Senator Zappone stated she disagreed with the civil partnership legislation. The concerns I had were to do with the fact that it did not include all people and other categories of people in caring dependent relationships and the particular problems for freedom of conscience generated by the legislation. Those were rehearsed in detail last year and it is regrettable that the debate was guillotined and we did not have an opportunity to discuss our concerns in full. Extensive contributions were characterised as filibustering. It is regrettable we are again in the era of the guillotine. Had we not had a guillotine last year, those of us who had concerns about the civil partnership legislation would have had an opportunity to demonstrate clearly that we were in favour of a range of supports being made available to people in various caring dependent relationships, including people whom civil partnership reaches but also others who are not the beneficiaries of the civil partnership legislation such as carers and other relatives in certain situations.

Recently, I had occasion to deal with a person who had great difficulties with having his foreign fiancee admitted to the country so he could get married. We have the rather strange situation whereby a citizen or resident of another EU country can bring in his or her partner from outside the EU, but the rights of a resident of the first country are not as straight forward. It is an invidious situation whereby people with loved ones abroad are not in a position to be with them. I know there must be limits or one could end up with a m'asal beag dubh type scenario if it were to be opened up completely and this would not be desirable from a public policy point of view. To use that awful phrase, "we are where we are", and even if, as I believe, the civil partnership legislation introduced is flawed I recognise it establishes a category of people who enjoyed certain protections under Irish law and this is one of the protections that a person should be able to access.