Practical action to provide for cohabiting couples, including gay couples, should be possible by the autumn, according to the Minister for Justice. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports.
However, Michael McDowell ruled out a constitutional amendment that would give recognition to the relationships of gay and other non-marital couples equivalent to marriage.
He was speaking at the launch yesterday of a report, entitled The Rights of de Facto Couples, for the Human Rights Commission, written by Fergus Ryan and Judy Walsh. The report examines various aspects of Irish law relating to cohabiting couples from the standpoint of international human rights law and instruments, and finds that a number of areas of Irish law could fall foul of international law, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr McDowell said that this report would perform a useful role in the ongoing debate.
He pointed out that two other reports on the matter were being prepared, one by the Law Reform Commission and the other by an expert group set up by him under the chairmanship of Anne Colley. He hoped that by the autumn "all will be arriving at a point where we will have consensus on practical action".
Referring to the Constitution, he said: "We do live in a constitutional democracy. We either change it or uphold it. We can't just ignore it. While it's there, it does have meaning."
He did not favour a referendum to change the Constitution. "To summon up every atavistic fear and put it out in the democratic marketplace would not lead to change."
He said that his thinking on the matter was based on fairness. "Is it fair that if one party in a gay couple is in hospital, the other cannot be consulted about it? Is it fair that the family could take the body and bury it without reference to the other party to the couple? Is it fair that if one contributes to a pension and dies, the other partner is left with nothing?
"From that point of view change is necessary. Civil partnership is not the only aspect of being fair. If gays and lesbians are equal citizens we must go further and consider educational, economic and adoption issues as well."
However, supporters and friends of Drs Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan (the KAL Initiative) who are seeking to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland, said that the only way to ensure the full protection of all citizens was to provide for full equivalence to civil marriage. They stressed that such a civil marriage was quite separate from a religious marriage.
Eoin Collins, of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, welcomed the report.
However he added: "It is very disappointing that the commission has not taken the opportunity to come out for the full human right option of civil marriage. This would be in keeping with best practice internationally."