David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I withdraw the name of Bruce Arnold from the record. This man written articles in all of the national newspapers, all of which are rubbish but create an atmosphere of doubt and need to be answered definitively and authoritatively. In this pompous tirade circulated to the media this man states that same-sex marriage will be self-evidently void ab initioat the outset by virtue of the fact that the couple cannot have children, which is wrong. The claim is incorrect. Infertility is not a grounds for nullity in Irish law. That is lie No. 1 nailed.

On his second claim that the amendment will leave people free to marry within prohibited degrees of relationship by rendering section 2(2)(e) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 unconstitutional, this again, as a matter of law, is wrong. Section 2(2)(e) of the 2004 Act, provides that there is an impediment to marriage if both parties are of the same sex. This is not the provision that establishes prohibited degrees of relationship. These prohibitions are set out in other statutes. That is lie No. 2 nailed.

On his third claim that the amendment would create a personal right to contract a same-sex marriage in a religious ceremony and that exemptions for religious denominations would be impossible, unconstitutional and in breach of the ECHR, this, again, is nonsense and rubbish. Any attempt to force religious denominations to marry people in church would come up against Article 44.2.5° of the Constitution which provides that: "Every religious denomination shall have the right to manage its own affairs, own, acquire or administer property, movable and immovable, and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes." That is lie No. 3 nailed.

On his fourth claim that the amendment would make it impossible for civil marriages to be solemnised in churches, the amendment of the Constitution to legalise divorce did not require religious denominations opposed to divorce to solemnise marriages between divorcees. While divorce has been introduced, there is no compulsion on the churches to marry divorced couples. I do not see why they should not do so. As a practising Christian and one of the few people who goes to church every Sunday, I take exception to the fact that churches will not give even a blessing to the marriages of divorced people. As I have said previously, they bless atom bombs, tractors and goldfish. How do they know when they are blessing the goldfish that they are not lesbian? It would not burst them to bless a couple of lesbian women or gay men. I would have thought that it would be in the Christian tradition to bless love rather than instruments of war or agriculture. Thank God for the hierarchy of the church. They are our best weapon.