Government must act on family report

RECOGNISING the realities of modern life, the report of the Oireachtas All-Party Committee on the Constitution represents a broadly sensible solution to an Irish problem.

Catering for the rights of different types of families, its proposals would give 70,000 cohabiting couples, 160,000 lone mothers and countless separated fathers estranged from their children, the protection they need on inheritance and other questions.

While some 1,700 people in same-sex unions will also be accommodated, the requirement for them to register their civil unions with the State is seen as discriminatory.