In response Minister Roderic O’Gorman was unable to address their concerns and said that the courts would define its meaning.
Sinn Fein deputy, Sorca Clarke, said the phrase was “unnecessarily vague” and risks being “open to very different interpretations”.
Another Sinn Féin TD, Réada Cronin, called the wording “strange and weak”, “far too nebulous”, and “open to a multiplicity of interpretations”.
She added: “It is more suited to describing a battery than to complex and sensitive human relationships, never mind Bunreacht na hÉireann”.
Social Democrats leader, Holly Cairns, asked: “What exactly is being defined as a durable relationship under the law?”
In response, Children’s Minister, Roderic O’Gorman said the definition of “durable” that the Government want to put into the Constitution is not influenced by the EU law definition of “durable”.
He added: “We are giving guidance to the courts but the courts can ultimately decide in individual cases, does a relationship represent a durable relationship and therefore constitute protection for the family”.