Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this long-overdue Bill on behalf of the Labour Party Senators. I welcome into the Public Gallery Paula Fagan and her colleagues from LGBT Ireland. I commend them for the work they have done to ensure that this Bill remains a political priority. It is great to see it here. It is most unfortunate and regrettable that so many couples have been waiting for four years, since the resounding passage of the marriage equality referendum, to see this piece of unfinished business passed into law. We had all anticipated that the Children and Family Relationships Act would come into effect fully on the passage of the marriage equality referendum and that there would be no long delay.

This is a technical Bill. My colleague, Deputy Penrose, said in the Dáíl that it is quite difficult to follow the provisions of it because it is technical, but we know that its key purpose is to facilitate or bring about the commencement of the relevant sections of Part 9 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which will make possible, at last, the registration and re-registration of donor-assisted births, and to record the particulars of both parents where two women are together in a same-sex relationship. As others have said, many families have been deeply affected by this and have become so frustrated at the delay in bringing this in. I know many families in that position, so it is really to be welcomed that this is finally being given affect to, albeit that it is long overdue.

Some of the technical amendments seem bizarre. One of the difficulties arose in the context of the naming of the 2015 Act and the confusion between two Acts, the Gender Recognition Act 2015 and the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. A proposed amendment to section 2 of the Bill would change the definition of the words "Act of 2015". It seems to me that this should have been done much sooner. The most pressing issue when we pass this Bill - and I assume it will be passed as swiftly as possible - will be the point at which the provisions of the 2015 Act come into effect. An amendment was passed in the Dáil which provides a backstop, if we can use that term, providing that 6 October 2019 will be the date on which the provisions will be commenced if they have not been commenced before that date. I believe the Minister said in her speech that the Minister of Health hopes to commence the Bill before the summer recess. I do not know whether she can be more specific about a date. Might it be in place before the end of May? I certainly believe that this House will facilitate the speedy passage of this necessary legislation.

I thank the Minister for also dealing with another pressing legacy issue, namely, the legislation necessary to put into effect a remedy for people like David Parris, who had been so affected by the difficulties he faced and the European Court of Justice ruling against him in terms of pension rights for gay couples. I had brought that legislation before the Seanad as a Private Members' Bill initially. Senator Norris has also raised some significant issues relating to the substantive provisions in the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. As a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, where we had hearings into some of the issues around donor-assisted births and surrogacy, we saw and heard at first hand from so many stakeholders and NGOs just how complex these issues are to legislate for, how medical and technological developments have moved on and how we have to address those in our legislation. Huge gaps remain, particularly around births through surrogacy. All of us are aware that this is going on, but currently it is unregulated. I understand that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is dealing with this in an ad hocmanner where children are born abroad via surrogacy and require Irish passports and recognition in law. Senator Norris has raised some very complex issues which require urgent attention from us as legislators. When is it proposed to deal with those issues? I am conscious that my comments go way beyond the technical provisions in this Bill.

There is other unfinished business in terms of recognition of families. I welcome what the Minister has said about the need to recognise diverse forms of families, but we should look to amend our Constitution, which still only recognises the family based on marriage and which therefore leaves a large number of family units unrecognised in this country in 2019. They are deserving of recognition, and should be recognised in our law. I look forward to further debate on Committee and Report Stages on this important Bill, and I welcome its introduction.