Seanad report:The Government should disband the Oireachtas sub-committee investigating the Judge Curtin affair, according to Joe O'Toole (Ind).
The House should encourage the Government to deal directly with the judge, and come to some agreement with him.
Mr O'Toole said they would soon be marking the second anniversary of matters surrounding the judge. He had said in the past that "the thing" was being mishandled and it would go on forever. He believed they would still be looking at the issue when the next election came around. It was now stuck in the Supreme Court.
He was making no criticism of the committee. "They are the ones who are going to be blamed at the end of the day when this does not work out, even though they have done their very best on our behalf. We need to recognise this. This is going to cost a fortune. There are going to be all sorts of delays."
He did not know how much longer members would have to wait for something to come back from the Supreme Court because it was so complicated.
It was clear that the issue was going to be challenged at every hand's turn, added Mr O'Toole.
"It will go on longer than any of the inquiries that are going on up in Dublin Castle if we let it go on. I think action needs to be taken at this stage."
Paul Coghlan (FG) said he fully supported Mr O'Toole. Whatever judgment was handed down by the Supreme Court the matter would go back to the committee. The Government needed to act more directly in dealing with it, rather than hiding behind the committee, so to speak.
Leader of the House Mary O'Rourke said it was expected that the Supreme Court would give its decision by mid-March.
Accusing the Government of dragging its feet in relation to the introduction of legislation for civil partnerships, Sheila Terry (FG) said: "We must legislate for all people of our country, regardless of their sexual orientation or, indeed, religion."
Many of the people who were making statements on the matter must remember that it was no longer just a Catholic country, and that we had to regard everybody in the State.
David Norris (Ind) said he had produced a Bill to deal with civil partnerships. He had lost all confidence in the Government's commitment to developments in this area. We were getting into a situation which was farcical. "Gay people in Paisley's Belfast have more civil and human rights than people in Bertie's Dublin."
The reaction of the Government, which had been presented with a recommendation along the lines of his Bill, was to envisage the setting up of another committee or think tank to examine the situation. All they were doing was long-fingering the issue. "Catholic Spain has gay marriage. Let's please get on with the job."