Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What does the proposed constitutional amendment seek to achieve? What are the people being asked to decide in the referendum on 22 May? The people will be asked to decide upon a simple question, namely, who should have the right to marry in the eyes of the State. The answer to that question will determine whether or not the institution of marriage should be opened to same-sex couples on the same basis as opposite-sex couples. The people will decide if all couples who wish to marry should be able to do so. They will determine whether or not marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples. The people will have the opportunity to decide whether the Constitution should contain a right to marriage equality.

Who are the same-sex couples that will be affected by the answer to these questions? They are our children, our grandchildren, our siblings, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbours and our fellow citizens. Many waited years to gain the public recognition of their relationships represented by civil partnerships. Many are now waiting again and hoping to be in a position soon to make the deepest commitment to a life partner, namely, to be able to marry him or her.

Marriage is important to us as a society. It is the foundation of many of our families. It is the public expression of a profound commitment to another human being. The referendum, if passed, would not affect existing marriages in any way. Neither would it have any impact on heterosexual marriages into the future. The proposed constitutional amendment would not redefine marriage. What the amendment would do, if approved by the people, would be to enable an additional group of people - same-sex couples who cannot marry at present - to have the right to marry. The existing structure underpinning civil marriage would remain in place. Marriages would continue to be registered in the same manner as at present. The same conditions would continue to apply. Each person entering a marriage, for instance, would have, as at present, to give full, free and informed consent. The legal consequences accruing for the couple would be the same for a same-sex married couple as for a heterosexual couple. Marriage and the family would continue to be protected, as they are at present, by Article 41 of the Constitution.

Furthermore, the proposed constitutional amendment would not have any impact on religious marriage, as the amendment relates exclusively to the issue of civil marriage.Religious marriages would continue to be regulated by the respective religious denominations. The right of religious denominations to manage their own affairs is enshrined in Article 44.5 of the Constitution. This right is reflected in the legislation governing the registration of marriage. Section 51(3)(c) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 stipulates that a religious solemniser shall not solemnise a marriage except in accordance with a form of ceremony which has been recognised by the religious body of which he or she is a member. The general scheme of the marriage Bill, which I placed on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality and circulated to Oireachtas Members on 9 March last, confirms that nothing in the legislation which would be introduced into the Oireachtas if the referendum were passed would oblige: a religious body to recognise a particular form of marriage ceremony; or a religious solemniser to solemnise a marriage in accordance with a form of ceremony which is not recognised by that religious body. If the referendum were approved, those getting married in religious ceremonies would continue to do so in the same manner as at present.

I will say this again because it is critically important. There would be no implications for religious marriages. Of course, if a religious denomination were to choose to solemnise same-sex marriages, it would be free to do so. Nonetheless, the changes resulting from the referendum, if carried, would be exclusively to civil marriages - marriages in the eyes of the State.

Civil marriage is a legal contract between two persons, intended to be for life, which changes their status towards one another in the eyes of the State. It has implications for taxation, social welfare, property and succession. It has the protection of the Constitution. On what basis can we argue that some couples should get the legal and financial benefits that accrue from civil marriage but that these should be denied to others? On what basis can we argue that two persons should be prevented for the duration of their lives from making a lifetime's commitment to one another? On what basis can we continue to allow same-sex couples to be locked out of a union which has the protection of the Constitution?

Marriage has evolved with the norms of each age. The concept of marriage based on equality would have been unimaginable to our ancestors. Consider how different marriage was for women in times gone by. For centuries, women lost any independent legal existence once they got married. It was not until the Married Women's Property Act in 1870 that married women got the right to hold their earnings in their own right. Prior to the mid-19th century, it was common for marriages to be arranged. Married couples lived with parents, siblings and other relatives in larger family groups.

Even in our own lifetimes, marriage has changed fundamentally for women. A woman who got married 60 years ago would not have been able to sue in her own right. She was not entitled to sit on a jury. She was prevented by the marriage bar from continuing to hold a job in many areas of the public sector, right up until the 1970s in this country. The marriage of the 1950s was one in which it was routine for the woman to be the homemaker and the man the provider. However, today, our understanding of marriage is very different. We expect now, on entering marriage, for it to be a relationship of equals. We consider it normal for a married couple to live together with their children rather than as part of a larger family group. However, the current concept of marriage as a relationship of equals, intending to fulfil both parties, has only been the norm for the past two generations.

Preventing couples from getting married because of their sexual orientation increasingly jars with our sense of fairness. For more and more people in our society, this issue at stake is one of equality.

When the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act was passed in 2010, it represented an important step forward in the public recognition of the relationships of same-sex couples. Significant changes were made then to legislation on taxation, social welfare and succession to enable civil partners to have rights which were equal to those of married couples in many areas. Civil partnership has been a successful mechanism through which many same-sex couples have made publicly binding commitments to one another. Some 1,467 couples had entered civil partnership by June 2014.

However, the tide of history internationally has shown that civil partnership is now viewed in many countries as a staging post along the path to full equality for same-sex couples rather than a final destination in itself. An increasing number of countries are giving same-sex couples the right to marry. The Netherlands was the first country to pass a law, in 2001, enabling same-sex couples to marry. Since then, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, France, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Finland, England, Wales and Scotland have all given same-sex couples the right to marry. It is possible for same-sex couples to marry in 37 US states. The US Supreme Court is currently considering whether or not that right should be extended across all US states. This month, the Slovenian Parliament approved a law in favour of marriage equality. More and more countries are choosing to extend the right of marry to same-sex couples, seeing it as an issue of equal rights for all.

Many same-sex couples themselves have indicated that while civil partnership has been welcome as an arrangement for its time, it is no substitute for marriage. They wish to participate as full citizens in all of the institutions available to others in the society. They wish to enjoy the same rights to marry as are now available in many countries. They wish their relationships to enjoy the same public recognition and respect as those of heterosexual couples. For them, it is an issue of equality.

For our society, it is also an issue of equality. We will have to decide whether or not we open up the institution of marriage, in the interests of equality, to same-sex couples as well as to heterosexual couples. We will have to decide if marriage should be defined against the prism of the past or a vibrant institution embedded in the modernity of the 21st century.

I was moved by the debate in the Dáil. I felt that we were at a privileged moment in our history when the manifold possibilities of the future were before us. I was reminded of Maya Angelou's famous poem On the Pulse of Morning, which urges us to embrace the possibilities of the new morning and to take the path of change:

Lift up your hearts

Each new hour holds new chances

For new beginnings. ...

The horizon leans forward,

Offering you space to place new steps of change.

Here, on the pulse of this fine day

You may have the courage ... .

Once in a generation, people get the chance to make a life-changing decision which will have the effect of defining the priorities of that society. This is a moment when our society gets the chance to take a momentous decision. Ireland will be the first country to decide the issue of marriage equality in a referendum. It is the finest expression of our democracy that the decision will be a decision of the many rather than of the few.