Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

What should have been a simple and straightforward procedure has become bogged down with a variety of technicalities. A succession of amendments, which I can only describe as jumping through hoops, have been tabled to this Bill.

I refer the House to the Second Stage debate on this Bill in which Senator Bacik stated:

The majority of registered solemnisers are members of the well-known churches - the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and so on. The definition I have mentioned covers organisations such as Pagan Federation Ireland and the Spiritualist Union of Ireland. As they have applied for and obtained registration under the Act, their individual members may seek to be entered on the register of solemnisers. Although the definition is relatively broad, it excludes members of the Humanist Association of Ireland, who routinely conduct humanist funeral, naming and wedding ceremonies.

This is the reason we tabled the amendment. The main provision of the Civil Registration Act 2004 relates to marriage. It provides for common preliminaries and a single set of documentation for all marriages, the introduction of the marriage registration form, a single licensing system, establishment of a register of solemnisers and provision for a choice of venue for civil marriages.

Section 51 provides that a marriage may only be legally solemnised by a registered solemniser. It goes on to state that a religious body is defined as "an organised group of people, members of which meet regularly for common religious worship". That was what raised the whole issue on Second Stage. I do not think pagans refer to themselves as being religious, although maybe they do.