A scheme for a Bill legalising civil partnerships will be brought forward no later than March 31st next, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan told the Dáil.
"The legislation is very complex, and I would point out to the House that the British Civil Partnerships Bill contains 264 sections and 30 schedules. However, I assure deputies that this Bill is receiving high priority in my department."
Mr Lenihan rejected a Labour Private Member's Bill, allowing for civil partnerships, claiming that it was unconstitutional.
"The advice available to me on the matter is crystal clear, and indicates that a legislative approach, which seeks to define any other type of relationship expressly in terms of marriage, as the Civil Unions Bill 2006 attempts to do, is constitutionally unsound."
Moving the Bill, Labour's law reform spokesman Brendan Howlin recalled that it had been previously debated in February. In what he regarded as a cynical exercise the then minister for justice, while allowing the Bill to pass second stage, postponed its passage beyond the time limit of that Dáil.
"I believed then, as I do now, that a majority of deputies in this House support this equality measure. It is time, therefore, to stop talking about equality and to legislate for it." He challenged the Green Party deputies to support the Bill, as they had done when in Opposition last February.
Civil union, he said, was defined as "a conjugal status relationship . . . by virtue of which two persons of the same sex receive the benefits and protections and are subject to the same responsibilities, of parties to a marriage".
There were many Irish citizens in stable long-term partnerships who were denied legal recognition, as well as the protections and rights of loving couples simply because of their gender.
Mr Howlin said the Bill did not alter or seek to alter the current constitutional understanding of marriage. "The Bill seeks instead to create an equivalent status relationship for the benefit of persons of the same sex. In simple terms, it provides that in most respects, the rules of law that apply to marriage will apply also to civil unions."
Sinn Féin spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh also challenged Green Party TDs, urging them to take the principled stand they had taken in February. "What this Government is offering are hollow words." Ciarán Cuffe (Green Party, Dún Laoghaire) said the Government's proposed Bill had been included in the programme for government at his party's insistence. The Labour measure was flawed, he said, adding that the Attorney General had clearly advised it would not withstand a legal challenge.
The House votes on the Bill today.
