Enda stirs up new same-sex marriage row with activists
A NEW row has developed over same- sex marriage, just as Ireland faces into an autumn of upheaval on social issues, including a looming abortion debate.
Enda Kenny has refused a gay and lesbian request to be represented on the new Constitutional Convention, to be set up next month.
Its job will be to look at overhauling bedrock law in Ireland.
GLEN, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, wrote to the Taoiseach saying the convention ‘offers the opportunity to include in its membership the diversity of the Irish population’.
It said it would therefore ‘encourage the Government to include representation of lesbian and gay people on the convention’. It went on to suggest a number of its own members by name. But last month Mr Kenny wrote back to the body to refuse the offer, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. His move appears to put him at odds with his Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, who declared same-sex marriage to be the major civil rights issue of the age.
Mr Kenny told GLEN chairman Kieran Rose: ‘It is not practical to accommodate in a fair and representative manner all the groups or sections of society who would wish to be members of the convention.’
His letter was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. He added that it was expected, however, ‘that interest groups will be able to interact with the convention, including by making submissions, and that the chair and members will be anxious to hear from a repre- sentative spectrum of opinion’. Membership of the convention is currently being selected from random access to the electoral roles by a consultancy group commissioned by the Government. The plan is for 66 members of the public to join 33 nominees of political parties North and south, based on Dáil strength.
The former RTÉ broadcaster John Bowman is understood to have been offered the role of chairman and is considering his decision. The convention is set to sit for a year. The issue of same- sex marriage will be considered by the body, but only after it addresses a proposed reduction in the Presidential term from seven years to five and the alignment of its election day wi t h the European Parliament election. It will also consider a mooted reduction in the voting age from 18 to 17.
The Government said a public response to each recommendation will emerge f rom the convention within four months.
Meanwhile, another campaign group, Marriage Equality, has responded to comments by Cardinal Seán Brady that the introduction of gay marriage would weaken marriage vows made by heterosexual couples.
‘The movement for marriage equality is about access to civil marriage in a registry office rather than in a church,’ said the campaign group.
Director Moninne Griffith said: ‘ Marriage equality i s about protecting families irrespective of gender or sexuality.
‘Children with lesbian and gay parents deserve the same protections and opportunities as any other children.’