Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I am grateful to Senator Katherine Zappone for raising this issue. The absence of protections for children in the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 was raised by me, Senator Norris and others in this and the other House during the debate on that legislation. The Ombudsman for Children published a robust critique of the absence of protection for children in the civil partnership code. There were only two references to children in the Act.

The recommendations put forward by Senator Zappone address a gap in protection for children and highlight that the provisions in the civil partnership code do not go far enough. Section 73 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 provides for certain succession rights of children of a civil partner, while section 129 allows a court to have regard, on the dissolution of a partnership, to a child to whom either civil partner owes an obligation of support. However, there is nothing in the legislation to address the gap identified by Senator Zappone in terms of the lack of parity in the treatment of maintenance payments to children of married couples following divorce as against the children of civil partnerships following dissolution.

I urge the Minister to consider how this gap can be addressed. I said on Second Stage in the debate on this Bill that further legislation is necessary in any case to deal more broadly with the rights and responsibilities of civil partners vis-À-vis the children of their families. This was an issue identified by many people during the debate on the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010. There are broader issues to address apart from the issue raised in Senator Zappone's recommendations. It will require further legislation to equate the position of children of civil partners with those of married couples. Senator Zappone would accept that her recommendations will not achieve parity between children of gay couples and children of married couples. However, the recommendations do address a particular disparity in treatment.