Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis: ‘Party backing referendum to win pink vote in the election’
The claim was made during an hour-long discussion on the merits of the May 22 referendum to allow gay couples the right to civil marriages in Ireland.
Speaking during the event at Fianna Fáil’s ard fheis at the RDS in Dublin, justice and equality spokesman Niall Collins, director of the party’s Yes campaign, said the vote is “not about surrogacy, adoption, fostering, or any of these issues” as they are already covered by existing legislation, but rather is about enshrining “equality in civil law”.
Deputy director Senator Averil Power said gay couples have the right to be like heterosexual couples who “fall asleep watching The Late Late Show on a Friday night” — quickly adding “although not when Micheál Martin’s on”.
Likening the debate to that surrounding the decriminalisation of homosexuality and divorce in the 1990s, she said people should not fall for “scaremongering” from the No campaign.
The comments were supported by former minister Pat Carey, who recently revealed he is gay, and a number of speakers whose children are gay, including Margaret Gill, who is campaigning for a Yes vote in memory of her daughter, who died in a car crash weeks after adopting a baby with her partner.
However, despite the majority of people in the room backing the stance, a number of members were critical of what they claim is a policy being “dictated” to long-time supporters by party leadership.
After one member said he has been put in the “very uncomfortable position” of being “at odds with the party because I don’t feel all of the issues have been properly teased out”, Dublin-based supporter Peter Soden claimed the party is just supporting the referendum to win the general election.
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