A group of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael senators have called for a conscience clause to the added to the Civil Partnership Bill.

They were joined by other senators who called on their parties to allow a free vote on the issue.

Speaking first, Fianna Fáil Senator Labhras O’Murchu said that people who hold traditional values ought not to be subject to “a penal code” of imprisonment or loss of employment for refusing to cooperate with same-sex civil unions,.

Speaking in the Seanad yesterday, Senator O’Murchu said that the Government “should tread warily on the individual conscience”.

Other senators who spoke in favour of a conscience clause or a free vote were John Hanafin and Jim Walsh of Fianna Fail, and Fine Gael’s John Paul Phelan, Paul Bradford and Joe O’Reilly

Senator O’Murchu said that having spoken in the past on behalf of prisoners of conscience, it was “an uncomfortable prospect for me that at some future date, as a result of legislation in which I have acquiesced, I may have to speak in this House on behalf of Irish prisoners of conscience,” he said.

The Government’s Civil Partnership Bill, he added “provides that a person can lose his or her job or be imprisoned, and that churches and other bodies can have their property commandeered”.

He added: “I do not think it is right that people who in good conscience believe they are upholding the same values should be subject to such a penal code. Many people in Ireland will see this as an echo of the dreaded penal laws. It cannot be correct.”

Senator Jim Walsh said that he endorsed Senator O’Murchu’s sentiments, and argued that those who opposed the liberal agenda had “a right to a free vote on such issues as have people outside the right to exercise freedom of conscience.”

He added: “If we move against that, as Senator Ó Murchú said, we will move to a totalitarian society which certainly many of us, particularly liberals, would argue against if it were impinging upon their beliefs.”

Senator John Hanafin called for a debate on the issue of a conscience clause. He said that he had a difficulty with the Bill, and repeated his call for a referendum on the legislation proposed by the Government.

He asked whether the public wanted “a situation whereby a same-sex, sexual relationship has a higher standing in law than that of brothers, sisters, brothers and sisters or friends who live together in an ordinary way?” He also called for a free vote on the issue.

Fine Gael Senator John Paul Phelan said he strongly agreed with Senator Hanafin’s view that those in same-sex relationships ought not to be treated more favourably than those living in non-sexual, mutually dependent relationships.

People who were “living together in a loving but non-sexual relationship, perhaps brothers or sisters, should not be discriminated against,” Senator Phelan said.

Senator Phelan said he had a reservation about the provision in the Bill which criminalised civil registrars who refuse to conduct same-sex civil unions on conscience grounds.

He said: “Criminalising registrars for non-performance of their function is not a correct step in any legislation.” He also called for a free vote on the issue.

Another Fine Gael senator, Paul Bradford, said that he hoped that there would be a tolerant debate on the Bill, and added that he had “never encountered people as illiberal as those who refuse to accept other persons’ points of view as being equally balanced and fair”.

Fine Gael Senator Liam Twomey argued that making exceptions for conscience in many professions was “completely unworkable”.

Senator Paschal Donohue, in response to Senator O’Murchu’s remarks, said that State officials were “expected to implement the law in performing their roles”.

He added: “Regardless of the area of public life we are talking about, surely we have learnt the lesson that if we give people the ability to opt out of implementing the law, we will do so at a great cost to us all.”