Calls for Kenny to sack Creighton over gay marriage remark

ENDA KENNY faced calls to sack his equalities spokeswoman last night after her remarks on gay marriage were heavily criticised.

Lucinda Creighton triggered a storm of protest on social networking sites after placing a tweet stating: “I think marriage is primarily about children, main purpose being to propagate & create environment for children to grow up. I think civil partnership should ensure gay couples r treated fairly and justly re tax inheritance etc & recognition by the State But marriage is different.”

Fine Gael moved to distance itself from the remarks, pointing out they were Ms Creighton’s personal views.

However, Labour’s equality spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch said the Dublin TD should be removed from her post by Mr Kenny.

“The stereotypical view she is displaying shows she is not suited to the job and is not serious about equality,” Ms Lynch said.

Labour plans to hold a constitutional referendum on granting marriage equality to same sex couples within the constitution if it gets into Government after the election. The party heavily emphasised the policy at its manifesto launch and the commitment is a key element of Labour’s social agenda for the next parliament.

Mr Kenny appeared cool on the idea at his last major press conference of the campaign, saying such a move was “not a priority” and civil partnership legislation passed last year was sufficient.

Hazel Cullen, spokeswoman for gay rights group Noise, said: “Ms Creighton’s attitude to marriage is frankly bizarre in 2011. If marriage is about procreation then should older people be banned from getting married, or should couples who experience fertility trouble have their marriages rendered void? There are many gay couples in Ireland lovingly raising children and Lucinda Creighton is ignoring them and their rights.”

FG also was accused by critics of censoring its own Facebook page when posts about Ms Creighton and gay marriage were removed.

A spokesperson insisted FG is committed to fully implementing the changes to the Finance and Social Welfare Acts to give full effect to the rights afforded to civil partners.