Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The printer went privately and respectfully and offered his hand, and it was not taken. Can we not find a way to accommodate differences of opinion? Is that not what all the great liberal traditions are about, if we consider the separation of church and state in the American tradition? Is it not about allowing people to go their own way unimpeded by the higher force of law except where it is absolutely necessary to secure the common good? I am very concerned that there is a new intolerance in Ireland. It is almost as though the people running the country, in journalism, the media, politics and in the Government, have a memory of when issues were very suffocating because only one point of view was publicly allowed, and now they are determined that their point of view will be the only one that is publicly allowed. It is a very adolescent, juvenile way to craft the new Ireland.

The new Ireland should be about, to use a phrase that does not come naturally to me, letting 1,000 flowers bloom. This includes the flower that is planted by the person whom you and I think is a bigot, and whom I might think is unnecessarily scrupulous, more to the point in this case, about his need to act in accordance with his beliefs in a given situation. Where is the tolerance? Why is there the desire to ram all this down people's throats? There is a fair question to be tried, to borrow a legal expression, whether the redefinition of marriage as proposed, if it goes through, will be invoked further to impact on the conscience rights of certain people. We will possibly find that such people are more likely to be Bible Christians than Roman Catholics, and this says much about the pragmatism of Roman Catholics. However, they might not be people of faith at all, and this should not worry us, because conscience goes beyond faith. There is a fair question to be tried as to whether the redefinition of marriage, as proposed, could be invoked in future court cases.

Even if the referendum goes through, it will be very interesting to see what the courts do, given the constitutional provisions around freedom of conscience and the freedom of religious institutions, and the rights of parents as primary educators, from which the right to denominational schooling flows. Those issues are not going to go away and will not be removed from the Constitution by the amendment. However, there is an uncertainty as to how the amendment will operate when it comes to their interpretation in the event of future legal dispute. If the Minister, as she and her Government say, simply wants to affirm the loving relationship between any two adults regardless of sex, to give public recognition to them and to let certain administrative and social benefits flow from that, fine. However, the Minister can do it, and reassure many people in the public that there are no implications for other people's freedoms, by accepting amendment No. 7. However, she will still have a problem regarding the amendments that have been ruled out of order.

I would love if the Government would call my bluff and find out whether I would support the referendum if the Minister were to accept my amendments. The Government might be pleasantly surprised. Perhaps, the Government thinks its majority in the opinion polls is still strong enough for it not to bother with people like me or the people whom I represent. Although I do not know what the people will decide in the end, I will represent the people whom I represent. There are hundreds of thousands of good people in our society who love and respect gay people and respect their private lives and personal commitments, but who have concerns about the marriage proposal. These concerns are all the greater because there are certain issues in doubt about freedom of conscience, the rights of educators and questions regarding adoption and donor-assisted human reproduction. We must return to those issues sooner or later. I look forward to the Minister's response.