Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I feel like I have to explain that every time I speak here. As my Labour Party colleagues and I said yesterday, we welcome the proposed changes to the definition of "family" in Bunreacht na hÉireann. If it is all right, I would like to take a moment to make the connection here and to applaud the ruling in the Supreme Court case yesterday, and to thank Johnny O'Meara for taking the case. I also thank Treoir and FLAC for their involvement. It is a moment of real significance in the State's history. We now call on the Minister with responsibility to immediately act on the judgment.

I believe that these two issues are linked together and they were referenced in the case. It appears that the argument is all the stronger now for the constitutional broadening of the definition of a family to include all durable relationships. We cannot leave it to chance that there will be some other part of the social welfare or tax codes that will require somebody to go to court to prove their family rights. We must recognise the treatment legacy within the State of families who do not conform to this constitutional model. That is what our amendment is about, namely, the model of a family based on marriage. It is the opinion of many that the definition of Article 41 in no way reflects the current and wonderful diversity of family life in Ireland. The wording that we have been presented by the Government speaks of "durable relationships". The Minister has spoken on this before, but the question still remains as to what is "durability" and what defines a "durable relationship" between adults. We very much believe that the definition must include comfort for cohabiting couples and those both with and without children, and it must also address issues for disabled people in the area of kinship for carers. The Committee Stage amendment we tabled states:

In page 4, to delete lines 11 to 14 and substitute the following:

“(a) in subsection 1° of section 3 of the Irish text, by the deletion of “Ós ar an bPósadh atá an Teaghlach bunaithe gabhann” and the substitution of “Gabhann”;

(b) in subsection 1° of section 3 of the English text, by the deletion of “, on which the Family is founded;”,

I urge other Senators to support this amendment, which will simply remove the phrase "on which the Family is founded" from Bunreacht na hÉireann and remove the constitutional concept that a family is confined only to those based on marriage and it would expand that definition. We cannot overestimate the hurt that has been inflicted on individuals and families for decades because they did not conform to that very narrow definition of a family based on marriage. This is personal for many people, including thousands of women who found themselves pregnant and parented alone; women who were abandoned by the fathers of their children and left to parent alone; and men who raised children on their own; as well as grandparents and those who choose to have children on their own. There are loads of other different types of families in this country. I and the Labour Party think the symbolism of change in this Constitution would have a profound impact on those families, as they would feel recognised.