Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As was stated, in the past so-called non-marital families, especially single mothers, were discriminated against and made feel like they were not a full part of society. In this House, which is reflective of society, we have had a number of passionate contributions.We heard from Senator Ruane today, who feels in her experiences she was treated like a second-class citizen. We heard from Senator Garvey yesterday. It is difficult to completely forget about the past but we have to look to the future. Thankfully, this country has grown and travelled in a fairly good direction in recent times. The amendment makes it clear in our Constitution that the family extends beyond the marital family and includes one-parent families and cohabiting couples and their children. By making it clear that it extends beyond what we would call the "traditional" family, it is a recognition of reality. It would be easier for the Minister, his party and, indeed, the three parties in government to park this because that is what happened for generations: "Just do not deal with this one, it is a difficult one and let it go for another generation." It presents challenges. Those challenges must be considered and contested where appropriate. I would expect nothing less than a robust debate. That is the beauty of life - we do not all agree. As someone who has worked with Senator McDowell for over a quarter of a century, I assure the House that I am not personally disgusted and no one should be because he has a genuine viewpoint. He said that at the outset. We should not question people's motivations when they put their coherent views from their perspective forward. It does not help to personalise it.

It is not so much time to be generous but a time to be fair and inclusive. The language of Article 41 of the Constitution currently serves to limit the concept of the family to the marital family only and does not reflect the reality of our modern society. The proposed amendment updates our Constitution in this regard to reflect and recognise families in Ireland in a more holistic, inclusive and modern way. In doing so, it responds to the recommendations of the citizens' assembly.

Let us not forget the overriding focus and purpose of the proposed wording is to be more inclusive to reflect the values of equality. It has been said but is worth repeating that the amendment reaffirms the family as a fundamental unit of society but in doing so recognises families beyond those based on marriage. If we think of the O'Meara judgment yesterday, it was exceptionally brave for a plaintiff to come forward and lose in the High Court. I do not have the facts behind that case but the State might say, "Leave it here and there is no cost involved". The plaintiff went again and the Supreme Court gave him a judgment. I believe the judgment yesterday was fair but had this proposed constitutional referendum been enacted before that judgment, that plaintiff would have had fewer sleepless nights waiting on the judgment. Of course, we do not overly prescribe in our Constitution. It is not supposed to be forensic. It is not the Legislature. It sets out the fundamental rules.