Senator Jim Walsh has given up the Fianna Fáil (FF) party whip following his expressions of opposition to the Children and Family Relationships Bill.
Arguing, during a Seanad debate on the Children and Family Relationships Bill that it contains “many gaps”, Senator Walsh opposed 36 individual sections of the legislation and tabled amendments which recognise the right of a child to be raised by a mother and a father.
Prior to his resignation, Senator Walsh met with FF party leader Micheál Martin to communicate his concerns and later, in his letter of resignation, stated that his actions were based on his “deeply held and conscientious opinions”.
During the Seanad debate, Senator Walsh said that marriage in its present form offers protection to the ties between fathers, mothers and children. “Changing marriage removes that protection”.
Meanwhile, in the same debate, Senator Rónán Mullen voiced opposition to those sections of the Bill dealing with donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR), calling them “fundamentally misconceived and deeply harmful”.
Proposing amendments to this section of the Bill, Senator Mullen said he did so “from the perspective of trying to secure a child’s rights and a child’s best interests, which I believe must always flow from a presumption that all things being equal it is better that a child be brought into the world and be brought up by his or her mother and father, except in exceptional circumstances and that where it is not possible for a child to be brought into the world by his or her own mother and father that every child would have a father and a mother”.
Stating for the record that he did not deny that there were good elements to the Bill, Senator Mullen said: “The Bill is good wherever it is proposed to regulate the situation in favour of a child’s rights. However, where the Bill proceeds from an assumption that a child must put up with certain things which flow from certain adult aspirations to have children in circumstances where that prevents the child from being brought into existence or from knowing for a considerable period who they are or having the love and society of their genetic parents, to my mind that is most profoundly unjust.”
