Next Wednesday (Oct 31st), Labour will once again introduce the Civil Unions Bill to the floor of the Dáil. The Bill was first put to the floor of the Dáil on Feb 20th and 21st of this year. At that time, Fianna Fáil and the PDs voted in favour of an amendment which would postpone the debate six months. Of the Government speakers during that debate, only McDowell spoke against, with Charlie O’Connor, Fiona O’Malley, Sean Power and Barry Andrews standing up to essentially apologise for what the Government was about to do. Those two nights in the Dáil were some of my proudest moments as a member of the Labour Party, as I watched Brendan Howlin introduce the bill, followed by passionate speeches from Michael D. Higgins, Jan O’Sullivan, Liz McManus, Pat Rabbitte and in particular Ruairi Quinn, who lambasted Fiona O’Malley for the PD decision to abandon their socially liberal principles. At the time, Labour LGBT were particularly thrilled to see the work we had done with Brendan during the drafting of the bill come to fruition, but equally disappointed to see the behaviour of the Government.
So, here we are 8 months on, and I’m thrilled that Labour are devoting Private Members’ Time once more to introducing this bill. What has changed in the intervening period? Well, Labour are one seat weaker than we were, but all 20 TDs are expected to vote in favour of the bill. Fine Gael are 20 seats better off than they were, and we can expect them to support passage of the bill to committee stage (where they will seek to remove adoption from gay couples from the legislation). The Greens voted in favour last time, but it remains to be seen whether they will continue to support it from the Government benches. The PDs voted against last time, but if the Greens are permitted to vote in favour, they may also wish to cross the floor, which (combined with a couple of sympathetic independents) would be enough to see the bill safely pass to committee stage.
What can we do to help. Well, the biggest target needs to be trying to convince Greens and Independents to cross the floor. In particular, Finian McGrath was very supportive last time, and his support should be sought again. The three FF members who spoke in favour of the idea (Sean Power, Charlie O’Connor and Barry Andrews) should also be contacted, as should all 6 Green Party TDs. And of course, people should contact their ownlocal TDs/Senators of all parties to pressure them to support the bill. Any responses received can be forwarded to campaigns@labour.ie
A summary of the bill can be found here.
You can phone the Dáil at 01 618 3000 and ask to be put through to your local TD or send them an email. The contact details for members of the House can also be found here.
People should also contact their friends and let them know that this debate is taking place. Anyone who would like to attend the Dail debate on Wednesday, Oct 31st should contact either Cathy at Labour HQ at 6784700 or email: campaigns@labour.ie
Fingers crossed we’ll get this debate through to committee stage next week!
