Fine Gael TD Damien English has come out in support of a limited conscience amendment to the Government’s Civil Partnership Bill.
Speaking during yesterday’s resumed Dáil debate on the Bill, Deputy English said that although inserting “a freedom of conscience amendment sets a serious precedent for the future”…”I believe the issue could be disposed of with a degree of common sense. I ask the Minister of State to see whether a suitable wording could be agreed to get us over this obstacle”.
Referring to private providers of services such as photographers, he said that if such people had an objection to same-sex civil partnerships, that was “their own business” and that “people do not have to employ them if they do not wish to do so”
Turning to parish halles, he said that he did not think “they should be forced to make that hall available to somebody with whom they disagree”.
“If a parish hall belongs to the Catholic Church which does not agree with same-sex marriages, should the law force it to allow the building to be used for such a ceremony? I personally do not think it should”, Deputy English continued.
Damien English is the second Fine Gael TD to speak out in favour of some form of conscience protection. Last week Sean Barrett did so.
Earlier, Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke said that she had been approached by constituents who expressed concern about the Bill in terms of its effects on religious liberty.
Deputy O’Rourke said that these concerns “had no bearing on the issue for which we proposed to legislate”.
She said that arguments concerning the conscience rights of photographers who refused to take pictures at same-sex ceremonies were “facile” and she implied that people such as bakers who were unwilling to supply cakes to such ceremonies would be permitted to do so.
“In that case, one could do without the cake,” Deputy O’Rourke said.
However, the Bill amends the Equality Act, which means that anyone refusing to provide any service to such ceremonies would be liable to prosecution.
Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes also rejected the idea of a conscience amendment in reference to civil registrars, suggesting that, if an amendment to allow people of faith to opt-out of assisting such ceremonies were to be introduced “we would be accepting some kind of sharia law”.
“We would be accepting that religious views of the world would dominate over the laws of the Republic. We cannot have that,” Deputy Hayes said.
He referred to the Employment Equality Act, and its religious exemption. He said this did not give civil registrars the right to opt out of the duty to register civil partnerships.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s ruling on religious exemption, he said that the Constitution permitted legislation “to make distinctions or discriminations on grounds of religious profession belief or status insofar as this may be necessary to give life and reality to the guarantee of the free profession and practice of religion contained in the Constitution”.
Deputy Hayes also said that it was in the interests of the State to have people in loving long-term relationships irrespective of the nature of such relationships”.
“The State has an absolute interest in ensuring that provision be made for those who wish to live in loving, long-term relationships,” he said.
A number of TDs referred to the fact that the legislation did not refer to children. Labour TD Joanna Tuffy said that she hoped hope the Minister would “accept amendments to the Bill which will improve the rights of the children of civil partners and cohabitees”.
However, she did not specify what this might mean. Fianna Fáil TD Beverly Flynn also made reference to the Bill lack of reference to children, saying that the legislation did not go far enough in protecting children in same-sex or cohabiting situations.
