Thinking Anglicans

Civil Partnerships in Ireland

The Irish Civil Partnership Bill was signed into law by the President of the Republic yesterday. The bill was passed without a vote in the Dail (the lower house of the Irish parliament) and was supported in the Seanad (Senate) with only 4 dissenting votes, out of 52.

Irish Times Signing into law of new civil Bill welcomed

Some earlier reports:

According to RTE in this report Civil Partnership Bill passes the Seanad:

The Seanad rejected, without a vote, an amendment that would have allowed Registrars opt-out of presiding over civil partnership ceremonies.

The so-called ‘conscientious object’ amendment had been tabled by Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, however the matter was not put to a vote because not enough Senators called for one.

Senators spent three hours discussing the amendment, in total there were 77 amendments down for discussion.

Irish Times Bill’s success shows ‘society’s maturity’ and ‘Historic advance’ for equality as Civil Partnership Bill passed.

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chenier1
chenier1
13 years ago

Simon This is indeed Good News for all of us who believe in the Gospel of Love, though perhaps less welcome to those who believe that the Gospel of Love only applies to people they approve of. It’s a step along the way to full equality, but it’s a pretty significant step. Inevitably it reflects the response of the Irish people to the findings of the Ryan and the Murphy Reports; the Catholic bishops who say it undermines the institution of marriage have apparently been ignored. One wonders whether what Andrew Brown described as ‘A Vatican PR catastrophe’ in which… Read more »

Jeremy Pemberton
Jeremy Pemberton
13 years ago

I am delighted for the Republic and for its LGBT citizens who can now contract civil partnerships. I thought three points were of particular interest and note. First the overwhelming support this bill received on all sides of both houses of parliament – to pass through the Dail without a vote being taken is equivalent to unanimous support, I guess. Secondly, how good it was to hear the Justice minister hail the legislation as a sign of Ireland’s being a Christian and pluralist society. Not all would have agreed. Evangelical Alliance Ireland supported it, but Roman Catholic bishop Christopher Jones… Read more »

Fr John
Fr John
13 years ago

What heartening news from Ireland and the Dail. So clear a statement, and in many ways the ‘coming of age’ of the Irish nation, or Eire as I used to know it. I write this as my partner and myself have booked our civil ceremony here in Scotland. A time of great joy, fullfillment and wholeness. Praise be to God.

Fr John (Scotland)

Gerry Lynch
13 years ago

Delighted our neighbours to the south have introduced Civil Partnerships with such unanimity and positivity. Now, let’s get full marriage equality in both jurisdictions!

Old Father William
Old Father William
13 years ago

What excellent news. It makes me feel, however,that, living in the USA, I’m in a very backward country.

Robert Ian Williams
Robert Ian Williams
13 years ago

Sorry, but I prefer the Catholic Ireland of De Valera.

Gerry Lynch
13 years ago

So, you preferred a country where the state colluded in clerical physical and sexual abuse of children on an industrial scale and tens of thousands of young people left the country every year because of economic failure and cultural repression?

Martin Reynolds
Martin Reynolds
13 years ago

No Gerry, I know that RIW is as sickened by the “industrial scale” abuse as the rest of us.

But, like many Roman Catholics of his type, Robert idealises the influence and partnership in government that the RCC enjoyed under De Valera. What was acceptable or even tolerable in an Ireland dominated by memories of both a war for independence and a bitter civil war no longer is – the bitterness and festering hatred that supported De Valera is now only preserved in the minds of a few extremists.

Robert Ian Williams
Robert Ian Williams
13 years ago

First I think its patronising and insulting to think that a country comes to maturity because of this. Irishmen and women could argue that the UK will only be mature, when it elects its head of sate.

De Valera’s Ireland was a society devoid of materialism, avarice, pornography and divorce.
He inherited a state which had been an economic colony of the UK.

Craig Nelson
Craig Nelson
13 years ago

It has been a long wait. I am glad to see it pass so resoundingly in both houses. The message of equality is spreading as, for example, in Argentina which has enacted marraiage equality.

Anglican
Anglican
13 years ago

“De Valera’s Ireland was a society devoid of materialism, avarice, pornography and divorce.”

Ha! Could only be written by someone who knows nothing of Ireland.

MarkBrunson
13 years ago

“De Valera’s Ireland was a society devoid of materialism, avarice, pornography and divorce.”

Amazing it didn’t survive, then.

You’d think God would protect such a place, if it was to His liking.

Then again, perhaps it is more appropriate to say that “De Valera’s Ireland was a society *apparently* devoid of materialism, avarice, pornography and divorce.”

Of course, I’ve heard the same said by aging Russians of Stalin’s USSR.

Robert Ian Williams
Robert Ian Williams
13 years ago

Thanks Martin.. but the abuse was going on in Protestant England as well. Its human sin.

One of the plus points of the Irish ban on contraception, is that it has the highest percentage of young people in western Europe.

Perry Butler
Perry Butler
13 years ago

But dear Robert Im pretty sure these young people will be using condoms!

Bill Dilworth
13 years ago

“Of course, I’ve heard the same said by aging Russians of Stalin’s USSR.”

And Mussolini made the trains run on time.

mynsterpreost (= David Rowett)
13 years ago

I’m neither sociologist nor historian, but I do recall that James Joyce had a rather less, ummm… idealised view of Ireland. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man isn’t a bad starting place – Dedalus encounters prostitutes, pornography……….. Perhaps he made it all up?

Robert Ian Williams
Robert Ian Williams
13 years ago

Oh yes, many of the younger generation will probably be using condoms, and Ireland will reap that in time. Just look at the whole liberal west, contracepting its self out of existence. A classic example being the Dutch, who brought in immigrants to fill the vacuum and now they are running scared of Muslims.

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