The Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform is preparing legislation on Civil Partnership for same sex couples and cohabitants. Heads of Bill are published and interested parties were invited to examine the details of the scheme and comment on it by Friday last 25th July.
Details are available on the department website www.justice.ie.
Comments and submissions can were requested by Friday 25th July (email: civilpartnership@justice.ie), but a spokesperson said submissions arriving after that date can still be taken into account.
Family & Life (F&L), an education and awareness organisation committed to the promotion of the culture of life, has made its submission and are urge others to do so.
Later in the year it will publish a detailed critique of the proposed law "to inform the debate". In its eZine it states: “We hope our document will also assist the growing number of public representatives who are privately expressing grave reservations about this proposed law.”
F&L makes a number of points:
- The institution of marriage is of great value to Irish society, providing the foundation for strong families and providing children with their best chance of a stable and secure home environment throughout their formative years.
- There is abundant sociological evidence for the benefits of marriage both to the spouses and their children.
- Legitimate state interest in marriage is underscored by Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, which imposes a constitutional obligation on the State to guard and protect the institution of marriage with special care.
- The proposed legislation on civil unions would undermine the special status of the institution of marriage by creating relationships, which in many ways, are analogous to marriage.
F&L also suggests there may be a strain on the State coffers by extending the rights of marriage to a wider group, and that cohabiting homosexual persons could have their rights vindicated by any number of other laws without recognising or approving same sex relationships.
On Wednesday (23 July) a Department of Justice spokesperson told CInews: “The number of submissions so far is relatively small, and they are principally from private individuals. We expect to receive further submissions over the next few days.” There are no plans to publish the submissions.
The Department of Justice states that the Civil Partnership Bill is aimed at establishing a statutory mechanism for registration of the same-sex partnerships and sets out duties and responsibilities of registered partners. It sets out the consequences of dissolution of a partnership. As well as providing for same-sex couples, it will also provide for opposite-sex cohabiting couples, especially in financial areas.
The bill will:
- create a new legal relationship for same-sex couples;
- make detailed provision for registration of civil partnerships;
- give legal effect to property, financial, tax, pension, social welfare and other matters of civil partnership;
- provide cohabitants (same-sex and opposite-sex couples) with a redress scheme in the event of economic vulnerability at the end of a relationship.
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