Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. This is the fifth occasion on which I have raised this issue. I have raised it three times on the Order of Business and this is the second Commencement matter I have tabled in respect of it. More than six months have passed since I raised it by way of a Commencement matter. At that point, it had already been two and a half years since enactment of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. It is now three years since the legislation was passed but families, particularly LGBTQI couples who conceive through assisted human reproduction methods, still do not have equal family status because the Government has not commenced Parts 2 and 3 of the Act. Why is this taking so long? The impact of this Government inaction includes preventing a family from applying for an Irish passport and citizenship for their child, preventing the child from accessing his or her parents' estate if they die and preventing a parent from making emergency health decisions on behalf of a child where the legal parent is unable to do so.

During the debate on the Commencement matter I tabled in December 2017, the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, said, "If possible, it will be implemented by the end of January and if not, then the beginning of February." This followed repeated missed deadlines on the part of the Department. These deadlines were late 2016, early 2017, mid-2017 and late 2017. Following parliamentary questions or questions on promised legislation in the Dáil on the topic, the Department's responses have omitted a deadline and simply state that a small number of technical issues are holding matters up and that Parts 2 and 3 will be commenced as soon as possible. The most recent responses have the added element of requiring advice from the Attorney General. It has taken the Department over two years just to figure this out. Surely these technical issues would have been resolved by now had they have been given priority over the past three years. We need an open and honest explanation of the delay and a truthful deadline as to when families can expect certainty on this issue.

The Leader, Senator Buttimer, sought a meeting last month involving me, departmental officials and the families affected but the Department rejected his request. All I wish is for departmental officials to meet the families affected and explain why they have delayed the commencement of these people's rights and left them vulnerable. As matters stand, the families are being stonewalled.

I ask the Minister of State to give an in-depth explanation as to why the Department has taken three years to provide crucial rights to LGBTQI families and give a definite timeline as to when they can expect these rights to be conferred.