The High Court has rejected a landmark action by a lesbian couple aimed at having their marriage in Canada recognised as valid under Irish law or securing the right to marry in Ireland.
Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Anne Louise Gilligan were married in Canada in September 2003 and, the following year, began moves to have their relationship officially accepted under Irish law.
Dr Zappone, a public policy consultant, and Dr Gilligan, an academic, had taken the case against the Revenue Commissioners and the State. They argued that the State acted unlawfully and breached their constitutional rights to equality, marriage, property and family rights. And they sought to be assessed for tax purposes by the Revenue Commissioners as a married couple.
But Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne today dismissed their case, insisting there was no provision for same-sex marriage in the Constitution.
"Marriage was understood under the 1937 Constitution to be confined to persons of the opposite sex," she said in her 138-page ruling. She also said she could not support the couple's claim that the Constitution was incompatible with decisions from the European Court of Human Rights.
However, Ms Justice Dunne expressed a level of sympathy with the plaintiffs.
"Undoubtedly people in the position of the plaintiffs, be they same-sex couples for heterosexual couples, can suffer great difficulty or hardship in the event of the death or serious illness of their partners. Dr Zappone herself spoke eloquently on this difficulty in the course of her evidence," she said.
"It is to be hoped that the legislative changes to ameliorate these difficulties will not be long in coming. Ultimately, it is for the legislature to determine the extent to which such changes should be made."
Dr Zapone and Dr Gilligan have been together for 25 years and have lived in Ireland since 1983. They went to Canada in September 2003 to marry after a change in the law there and on their return set about having their bond recognised in Ireland.
In July 2004 the Revenue refused their claim for the same allowances as a married couple under the Taxes Consolidation Act. Civil servants insisted that marriage related only to a husband and wife and that the Oxford English Dictionary defined this as a married man and woman.
The eight-day case heard that the couple had suffered significant personal distress after that decision and that their battle was not simply about getting equal financial treatment but also dignity.
Costs will be decided at a later date.
Speaking outside court, the couple said they were disappointed with the judgment but would take time to consider it fully.
Dr Zappone said: "We do believe and we know that Ireland will be a land of justice and of equality for all human beings, and we believe and we know that the Irish Constitution does protect our rights as it does all others."
Dr Gilligan said they were disappointed at the ruling. "Personally we are disappointed and now that's as humanly real as we can be today," she said.
The Green Party's justice spokesman, Ciarán Cuffe, said after the ruling it was "unacceptable that the constitutional rights that we in Ireland cherish, such as the right to equality and to marriage, property and family rights, continue to be denied to certain groups of people living in the State".
He called on the Government to bring forward legislation as a matter of urgency to guarantee equality under law to same-sex couples.
Speaking to the media at an event to mark the publication of the Labour Party's Civil Unions Bill, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said he was "disappointed" by the outcome in the case. However, he said he had not yet had time to examine the court's arguments.
Fine Gael's equality spokeswoman in the Seanad, Sheila Terry, said today's High Court ruling makes it clear that the question of gay marriage is a constitutional one and that the emphasis now must be on civil partnership.
She said the party's Civil Partnerhsip Plan published over two years ago would provide cohabiting same-sex and opposite-sex couples with the rights they deserve and "should be enacted immediately".
Under Fine Gael's proposal, cohabiting couples could register their relationship with the State and avail of rights in the areas of next of kin, pensions, succession, tax, property, social welfare, inheritance and workplace entitlements.
Labour's Civil Unions Bill, published today, would allow same-sex couple enter into unions mirroring marriage, with the same rights and responsibilities.
In a statement, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), also said it was disappointed at the outcome.
ICCL director Mark Kelly said the court had "missed an opportunity to place equality considerations ahead of a vision of marriage that is grounded in the past".