Norris criticises proposals for civil unions

PROMINENT gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris last night criticised proposals for civil unions that will require those in same-sex relationships to register with the State in order to have the same rights as marriage-based families.

The proposal, made in a report on the family by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, does not require heterosexual couples to register to gain the same rights.

Mr Norris, who plans to publish his own civil union bill to address the issue, said the discrimination between gay and heterosexual families was unjustified.

"I regret the fact that there is a discrimination involved. I think it's a pity but it's all of a piece with the response of this Government to gay citizens," he said.

But committee chairman Denis O'Donovan said no discrimination was intended. Instead the Oireachtas report makes it clear that because of legal reasons it would be impossible, since a referendum has been ruled out, to grant legal family status to same-sex couples unless they declare themselves as a family.

Unlike heterosexual couples with children, Mr O'Donovan said it would be legally impossible to presume all cohabiting same-sex couples were living together as a family.

Yesterday's report stopped short of calling for a referendum to change the definition of the family in the Constitution, saying such a move would have caused "deep and long-lasting division in our society".

Instead legislative change to give rights to cohabiting and same sex couples are proposed a recommendation opposed by the Labour, Green Party and Sinn Féin committee members, who favour a referendum.

The report also recommends that an additional clause should be added to the Constitution to strengthen the rights of children, and that it should be further amended so that the articles dealing with the role of women in the home apply equally to men.

Fine Gael Senator Michael Finucane said it was time for civil partnership legislation along the lines of a policy the party unveiled in 2004.

"Unmarried couples in long-term relationships have no rights in the areas of tax, inheritance, next-of-kin status and many other areas that married couples take for granted.

"Fine Gael's proposal would create a framework, a Civil Partnership Register, to allow for two people of the same sex or opposite sex to formally register with the State and receive the protection of the law over a range of areas," he said.

Mr O'Donovan also called for action. "About 77,000 heterosexual couples are living together and about 160,000 single mothers are living in a limbo land," he said.

Labour education spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan called for the Constitution to be amended to recognise same-sex relationships and non-marital families. "The contribution that the traditional family makes should be acknowledged," she said.