Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says that it will be up to the courts to define what is meant by “durable relationships” should the upcoming family referendum be passed.

The amendment would explicitly grant familial rights to people involved in such relationships without stating what qualifies as durable or to how many people may be involved.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, he said he would be advocating a ‘yes’ vote in the family referendum so as to “recognise a whole range of different families”.

Asked by Gript media how far the proposed amendment would “loosen” the definition of a family, he said: “I don’t think its right for us to start being exactly, in a constitution, saying ‘this family is in, this family is out’, I think it is appropriate that there is some legal judgement applied to that in each individual case”.