Legal Recognition of Same-sex Relationships
GLEN Director of Policy Change, Eoin Collins, was appointed to a Working Group on Domestic Partnership established by the Government in early 2006. The purpose of the group was to present options regarding the legal recognition of same-sex unions for the Minister for Justice to consider. It was chaired by lawyer and former Progressive Democrats Teachta Dála Anne Colley. The Colley Report was published in November 2006 and outlined just two options to be considered - the opening up of marriage to lesbian and gay couples, which was stated as the full equality option, or full civil partnership which would provide all the rights and responsibilities of marriage.
In the May 2007 Irish General Election, all of the main political parties committed themselves to legislating in this area if they formed part of the new government. Following negotiations between Fianna Fáil and The Green Party, the two parties produced a Programme for Government in June 2007. The document contained the following commitment on the legal recognition of same-sex unions: "This Government is committed to full equality for all in our society. Taking account of the options paper prepared by the Colley Group and the pending Supreme Court case, we will legislate for Civil Partnerships at the earliest possible date in the lifetime of the Government." GLEN strongly welcomed the commitment to introduce change based on the findings of the Colley Report and looks forward to working with the government to bring about equality for the LGB population in Ireland.
The Heads of Bill for civil partnership were published by the Irish government on 24th June 2008 and GLEN strongly welcomed this. Speaking in response to the proposed legislation, GLEN Chairman Kieran Rose said, "Comprehensive civil partnership, as proposed in the Heads of Bill, is a major milestone towards equality. The goal of GLEN is access to full equality through civil marriage and this Bill is a fundamental step forward towards this goal. The provisions outlined today will resolve many immediate and pressing issues faced by lesbian and gay couples and will also provide a platform for further progress.“ On 26th June 2009, the Civil Partnership Bill was published by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern. GLEN again strongly supported this development but also expressed concern about the absence of any provision in the Bill to provide legal support and recognition of the many children being parented by same-sex couples. At this time GLEN published three documents to inform both policy makers and the LGBT community about the Civil Partnership Bill. These were:
- A Chronology of Key Events: GLEN's Campaign for Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships and Families
- Civil Partnership - Your Questions Answered: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Civil Partnership Bill
- Civil Partnership: An Overview
Following the passage of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 through the lower and upper houses of the Oireachtas, GLEN published the Seanad speeches to celebrate and mark the passage of this historic piece of legislation. At the launch of Seanad Debates on Civil Partnership July 2010, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern stated, "I want to compliment GLEN for the way in which they lobbied to bring us to where we are today. I know it’s their view that there is more to be done and that’s definitely their view and their wish and I wish them well in that respect. I do want to compliment them on the realistic and reasonable way in which they lobbied all of the political parties and all of the political parties would have had some issues in relation to this particular piece of legislation. But GLEN did it in such a way that I think everyone fully understood that they were being reasonable and they understood the parameters within which we were required to work… Today is a celebration for all of the people in GLEN and the other organisations who have been lobbying for this. GLEN have done a marvellous job and I want to thank all the people associated with GLEN for the way in which they did their business and particularly thank them for the excellent productions that they have brought forward very quickly as a result of the passing of this legislation."
GLEN's support for the Civil Partnership legislation received criticism from some elements of Dublin's LGBT community who believed that the Civil Partnership Bill was discriminatory and inadequate.
Read more about this topic: Gay And Lesbian Equality Network
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