Civil Partnership Bill criticised as ‘halfway house’

THE Government’s Civil Partnership Bill has been criticised as a “halfway house” because it stops short of allowing gay and lesbian people to marry.

MarriagEquality, a group campaigning for same-sex civil marriage, said gay and lesbian people had been “short changed” by the bill, which was published yesterday by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.

The bill, once enacted, will allow same-sex and opposite-sex couples to register as civil partners of each other.