Seanad debates

Friday, 27 March 2015

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: Céim an Choiste - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

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

It is the Supreme Court which makes decisions in respect of the provisions of the Constitution. The amendment is about marriage and access to marriage for same-sex couples, not parentage or children. The regulation of access to donor-assisted human reproduction will be a matter for the Department of Health and will be decided in the best interests of the children to be born. It will not be based on marital status or the sexuality of the intending parents. I will not digress into a discussion on current adoption laws because that is a separate issue. We have already discussed who may access adoption under current law and the position is clear in that regard.

The European Court of Human Rights has also taken a clear position on the rights of the child and the issue of limiting access to adoption. The court had much to say about these matters and Ireland is subject to the decisions of that court. I will not digress because the constitutional amendment is about access to marriage, not parentage, parenting or children. As I indicated, regulation of access to donor-assisted human reproduction will be a matter for the Department of Health, which will regulate the matter in the best interests of the children to be born along the lines I outlined.

Senator Mullen knows better than anyone that when one inserts a new constitutional provision, it is the for the Supreme Court to interpret the balance between different constitutional provisions. People are being asked in the referendum if they want to extend the right to marriage to same-sex couples. If this proposition is accepted and a new clause is added to the Constitution - the Government's proposition would not result in any deletions to the wording of the Constitution - it will be for the Supreme Court to interpret and decide on the balances in the Constitution at a future point.

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