Gay couples have ‘no right to marry’ under Constitution

SAME sex couples do not have the right to marry under the Irish Constitution, lawyers for the State told the High Court yesterday.

Counsel for the State Mr Paul Gallagher SC told the court that the wording in the Constitution that deals with marriage “clearly relate to a union between a man and a women,” and it was impossible to conclude that the term referred to relationships between people of the same sex.

Mr Gallagher was making the submissions on behalf of the State in the continuing action, being heard by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, by Dr Katherine Zappone, a public policy consultant, and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan, an academic, against the Revenue Commissioners and the State.