Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I commend Senator Bacik on this Bill. It was well indicated on Second Stage last November that there was a broad welcome for the humanist right to confer marriages. Today is another step in that journey. I hope, with a bit of luck, we might finish the Bill today. It is a bright new future and a sign of a society that is more inclusive and more diverse and a recognition that everybody has his or her own views and ways of celebrating marriage.

I commend Senators Norris and Zappone on the timing of this amendment. They are certainly keeping the issue on the agenda and it signals the need for a full debate at another time. Today we are dealing with the extension of provisions to include The Humanist Association of Ireland so that it can carry out marriages. We are dealing only with civil marriages in this Bill but on another day we would welcome the debate about the extension of the provision to civil partnership. This will be another significant step and we will need to deal fully with the details of such legislation.