A delegation from the Church of Ireland is to met Department of Justice officials yesterday to urge the Government to accept a freedom of conscience clause in the Civil Partnership Bill, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post.

Under the Bill as currently written, Church organisations may be forced to allow Church properties to be used for same-sex civil union celebrations or face being sued.

The Church of Ireland delegation are pressing for the inclusion of a clause in the legislation which would enable public officials such as registrars to refuse to perform civil ceremonies for gay couples on the grounds of religious beliefs, the report says.

The bill proposes that an official who refuses to preside over a civil union can be fined €2,000 and jailed for six months. The Churches also believe that they could be forced to offer the use of Church property for same-sex ceremonies and events, or be sued if they do not.

TDs and senators have been lobbied by representatives of the Protestant Churches on the issue in recent weeks.

However, Dermot Ahern, the Minister for Justice, has already ruled out introducing a freedom of conscience clause. In a recent debate in the Seanad, he said: ‘‘I agree with the view that there is no basis for providing a right to discriminate against a class of persons on the grounds of freedom of religion or conscience.”

Ahern warned about the ‘‘unintended consequences’’ that could follow such an amendment to the bill, such as a registrar refusing to register the marriage of a person who had been divorced.

The Government have suggested that such consequences might include “a science teacher refusing to teach about evolution; a fundamentalist Christian Garda refusing to arrest a husband who is breaching a safety order on the basis that he is entitled to chastise his wife; a judge refusing to register a power of attorney in favour of a person’s civil partner; a Muslim or Mormon accident and emergency doctor refusing to treat someone presenting with alcohol poisoning”.