LGB groups aim to make gay marriage an election issue

Gay and lesbian groups are hoping to push the issue of gay marriage onto the election agenda.

They are lobbying for the same-sex relationships to be given the same legal recognition as heterosexual marriages.

Last year, the Labour Party published a Bill on the issue and it was debated in the Dáil in February, but a vote was delayed for six months.

Barbara Gill and her partner Ruth have been together for 12 years and they now have a six month-old baby boy together.

Barbara says, as a parent, she now wants to have the right to marry her partner.

"I just don't really understand why the Minister who has responsibility for Justice, Equality and Law Reform couldn't see his way to debating that Bill and at least moving it along, and give us some kind of hope that change was going to take place."