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Labour Publish Civil Unions Bill
Read more about: Gay Rights, Labour Party
Ten years after the party passed a motion on the matter—proposed by yours truly—at a party conference in Limerick, today the Labour Party have published a Civil Union Bill to be debated in the Dáil during private members time.
I could say about time but really it’s a bit late into the game really and not enough. The bill only applies to same-sex couples and would guarantee rights in pensions, property, family and other areas. The opportunity to guarantee full equality and not to treat lesbian and gay couples like second class citizens has been lost by the party. However this bill is another example of a bump on the road to Mullingar. Unlike Fine Gael’s policy on same-sex citizenship, the Labour Party’s bill deals with the issue of adoption. Whether the party spokespeople actually really understand the issues involved in lesbian and gay couples parenting (i.e., that it’s much more than ’stranger’ adoption) I don’t know and it will be interesting to see the issue debated further.
Edit by Simon. The Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Anne Louise Gilligan case has been lost.
Ten years and the publication of the bill happens to fall on the same day as the judgement in the High Court!
This is another example of knee jerk bandwagon jumping by a rudderless opposition. We can add it to the list with laptops for everyone and boot camps for delinquents. This is small time single issue politics that Jackie Healy Rae would be proud of and the people see right through it. The people want a government with a vision for next year not a late answer for yesterday’s headline.
The opposition need to stop thinking about trying to get 2 inches on page 5 of tomorrow’s newspapers and start to put together an alternative vision for government or we’ll end up with 5 more years of Fianna Failures.
Without going into the details of the bill (because I don’t know them) or the details of the debate just now, it’s quite obvious that even if this bill was inarguably ideal it would still be blocked by the government who would, shortly afterwards, reintroduce the exact same legislation with their own stamp on it to gather the kudos.
Sorry to go slightly off topic with that point, but it’s this aspect of modern politics, among many others, that really riles me. We’re still waiting on a Metro for Dublin because FF slapped down the PD initiative in 2002, only to resurect it recently under their own brand.
It angers me when parties refuse to accept a good idea put forward by the opposing side, although it’s not like Ireland is unique in this particularly damaging game.
Were Brendan Howlin gay, (but he’s not as he so publicly told us in the tabloids) would he be proud of such a bill? I really can’t believe that it’s almost the year 2007 and Labour produce this. Perhaps it’s down to Howlin being a raging heterosexual that he doesn’t understand the needs of those who love someone of the same sex?
Ah maybe people will finally starrt seeing Labour as the conservatives they are. But I am sure the media will spin them a s liberals