Ireland could soon be ready for UK-style civil partnerships, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight.

Gay rights campaigners tonight hit-out at a cross party Oireachtas report on the family claiming it had missed the opportunity to push for equal rights for same-sex and heterosexual couples.

THE Constitution is denying the rights of over 2,000 foster care children to belong to a family, it was claimed yesterday.

Evelyn Ring

The chairman of Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, Denis Donovan, has called on people to make submissions to assist changes in the Law relating to The Family.

IT SHOULD be made more difficult for candidates to be nominated for presidential election, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil yesterday.

I WISH to comment on the citizenship referendum, but would like to make clear at the outset that Amnesty International is not advising people on how to vote, nor are we offering an opinion on whether or not a referendum is necessary.

A MAJOR rift is set to emerge between Fianna Fáil and its Progressive Democrat coalition partners over plans to tackle excessive profits being made on land speculation.

THE Government is coming under pressure to extend Seanad election votes to graduates of the country’s institutes of technology and the two excluded universities.