The idea that children have a right to a mother and father is “absurd” and “nonsensical”, Senators David Norris and Ivana Bacik have said in a Seanad debate. And the Minister of State for Children, Barry Andrews, indicated in the same debate that he was open to the idea of adoption by same-sex couples.
Mr Andrews said the only real obstacle to the proposal was the Constitution.
The debate concerned an amendment to the Adoption Act - tabled by Senator Ivana Bacik - which proposed allowing same-sex couples to jointly adopt.
Speaking against the amendment, which was withdrawn, Senator Ronán Mullen asserted a child’s right to a mother and father, where possible.
Senator Mullen, citing a recent Iona Institute/Red C poll, said that the overwhelming majority of people supported a child’s right to a mother and a father where possible.
Senator Norris responded: "The notion of the right of a child to have a father and a mother is absurd. Who can deny that right? It is an observable fact. A child’s parents may not be present but I cannot understand how he or she could come into existence in the absence of an admixture of male and female.
"He or she may be conceived in a test tube or in some other way but he or she will certainly have a father and a mother. Let us put this notion to one side. What we are dealing with is the nurture of children.”
Supporting Senator Norris' point, Senator Ivana Bacik described the idea that children have a right to a mother and father as “nonsensical”.
She added that such a right would not be enforceable “where the father is deceased or where, for example, a child is conceived through rape”.
Senator Mullen told the Seanad that research proved that traditional marriage provided “the optimum set of circumstances for the upbringing of children”.
Responding to the claim made by Senators Norris and Bacik that research showed that same-sex parents provided an equally good environment in which to raise children, Senator Mullen said that the studies in question were based on very small samples. The main research in this area is by Professor Susan Golombok. However, the studies are based on a few dozen children only.
Citing the judgement of Justice Elizabeth Dunne in the Zappone/Gilligan High Court case in 2006, he said it would be difficult to reach firm conclusions on the issue of same-sex adoption without better quality research.
The case involved a demand by Katherine Zappone and Anne-Louise Gilligan that their Canadian marriage be recognised under Irish law. The case is currently before the Supreme Court.
Senator Mullen added that the burden of proof in the child welfare debate “clearly lies on those who argue that marriage between a man and a woman is not the optimum environment within which to raise children”.
The Minister of State for Children, Barry Andrews, told the Seanad that it “must be made clear” that homosexual men and women “made very good parents”. However, he said that because of the permanence of marriage, it was preferable for adoption purposes “without any reference to sexual orientation”.
So long as marriage is defined in the Constitution as being between a man and a woman, adoption would not be available to same-sex couples, the Minister added. If there were to be an amendment to this constitutional provision, Mr Andrews said, “this debate would be moot”.
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(Source: CIN)