Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On a point of order, having checked it with the Clerk, Deirdre Lane, just now, I understand that the procedure whereby an amendment to a Bill is ruled out of order is that a recommendation comes up from the Bills Office, goes through to the Seanad Office and then on to the Cathaoirleach for a ruling. In this case, it came to the Leas-Chathaoirleach to rule it out of order. I understand that no legal advice was obtained in the course of that decision being arrived at. You are not, of course, obliged to seek legal advice. As a legal man, I would ask you to reconsider this decision because the amendments that are proposed to be ruled out of order are central to the public debate about this referendum, namely, the question of whether redefining marriage in the way proposed will have a knock-on constitutional impact on any attempt to regulate matters, for example, in the areas of adoption or assisted human reproduction, in such a way as to seek to ensure as far as practicable that a child is never deprived of the right to be brought up by his or her own father and mother or by a father and mother in any event. These amendments were carefully thought through. A lot of legal advice was sought. They are central to the question of what the precise impact of the proposed referendum change will be. They are not vexatious amendments and are not-----