Stop sitting on the fence over gay marriages

Fine Gael really needs to stop sitting on the fence when it comes to gay marriages.

For example, Lucinda Creighton supported the idea as long ago as 2002, but that was long before she married. Fine Gael rallied to denounce Creighton’s views (in public anyway), but their words have not been followed by action.

Fine Gael launched a gay marriage manifesto prior to the 2007 election, but it now welcomes ‘constitutional difficulties’ and ‘what constituents think’ as convenient reasons for not confronting gay marriages.

It would seem that the Civil Partnership Act, in force since Jan 2011, was a deliberate waste of paper and time.

As far as I’m concerned, the subject of gay marriages really isn’t worthy of public debate, but the Government needs to make a definitive stand on this matter if it’s important to others. After all, some gay FG politicians might like to marry their partners.

‘What constituents think’ about gay marriage may not in fact be fully known to people like Charlie Flanagan. Public opinion is best measured in a referendum than through hunches.

Florence Craven

Maynooth

Co Kildare