Press release from The Iona Institute
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald must properly recognise the importance of the natural ties and the special status of marriage in the proposed Children and Family Relationships Bill, The Iona Institute has said in a statement today.
Commenting on the release of a new version of the Bill’s General Scheme, Iona Institute Director David Quinn said: “Minister Fitzgerald says that the Bill puts the interests of children centre stage, but in fact it gives far more weight to the desires of adults.
“Public anger over forced adoption shows that Irish society recognises the importance of the natural ties, and the importance of safeguarding the principle that children should be raised by their own mother and father whenever circumstances allow. In legitimating egg and sperm donation, the proposed law allows adults to deliberately bring a child into existence who will have no relationship with their natural mother or their natural father as the case may be. This is so whether gay or straight people utilise donor eggs or sperm”
He continued: “Banning anonymous egg and sperm donation is a step in the right direction, but giving children access to information about their donor father or mother does not do nearly enough to establish a relationship with the natural parents. As Justice Fennelly said in the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of McD Vs L: ‘a child should normally have knowledge, as part of the formation of his or her identity, of both parents, in the absence of compelling reasons to the contrary.’” (See note 3 below)
In the same case Justice Denham said: “There is benefit to a child, in general, to have the society of his father.”
Quinn added: “In addition, Minister FitzGerald’s plans to change adoption law to allow cohabiting couples to adopt undermines the constitutional protection afforded to the married family. If cohabiting couples can adopt just as a married couple can, then it can be strongly argued that the special protection the Constitution gives to marriage is being undermined.
“Allowing same-sex couples in Civil Partnerships to adopt would seem to do the same thing.”
He concluded: “This Bill should be amended in order to properly protect the natural ties between children and their parents and to properly protect the status given to marriage by the Constitution.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
- The Iona Institute is an inter-denominational Christian organisation dedicated to arguing for the importance of marriage and the role of religion in public life.
- The retired Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, the Rt Revd Ken Clarke, is the newest patron of The Iona Institute.
- McD Vs L involved a sperm donor father who was seeking the right of access to his natural child.