Call for Submissions on "Domestic Partnership" Ireland

aaronquigley

If you personally have any interest in seeing some form of Domestic Partnership in Ireland act now, don't leave it upto others.

From: Sunday Tribune: 2 Apr 2006, ADVERTISEMENT

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Submissions Sought

Call for Submissions on "Domestic Partnership"

A working group on Domestic Partnership has been established by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The working Group is now calling for submission from any interest person, organisation or group to provide input into it work based on the terms of reference.


Friday 28 April 2006

email: Domesticpartnership@justice.ie


I assume online references will appear in due course so if people could please post them.

damien

Interesting...

Will certainly make a submission.

Annasopra

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform


An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt, Comhionannais agus Athchóirithe Dlí


SUBMISSIONS SOUGHT


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ON “DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP”


A Working Group on Domestic Partnership has been established by the


Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.




The Working Group is to prepare an Options Paper on Domestic Partnership


for presentation to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform by


October 2006, within the following terms of reference:




• To consider the categories of partnerships and relationships outside of


marriage to which legal effect and recognition might be accorded, consistent


with Constitutional provisions, and




• To identify options as to how and to what extent legal recognition could be


given to those alternative forms of partnership, including partnerships entered


into outside the State.




The Group is to take into account models in place in other countries.




The Working Group is now calling for submissions from any interested


person, organisation or group to provide input into its work based on the


terms of reference.




The deadline for receipt of submissions is Friday 28 April 2006.




All submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of


Information Act, 1997, as amended.


Your submission can be forwarded to:


Working Group on Domestic Partnership


Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform


Bishop’s Square


Redmond’s Hill


Dublin 2


Tel: (01) 4790200


Or e-mailed to: Domesticpartnership@justice.ie

swiss

Very interesting indeed. Thread temporarily stickied (is stickied even a word?).

swiss

I'd better unsticky this, I suspect people ignore the stuck threads.

aaronquigley

Yep, I think you are correct the number of reads shot up once this was free floating. I'm wondering if people want to discuss what they think people
should or have contributed in terms of submission to this?

I'm just going with the facts of myself and my partner of 8 years,
we are very happy with life here but we have bugger all protection
which worries me. He is Australian which compounds the difficulties
as I'm left explaining why we are in the dark ages in terms of rights
and responsibilities.

Overall, its madness! The Government should be putting structures
in place to help same-sex couples in relationships stay together
(it strengthens our society).

Aaron.

Da!

Myself (Irish) and my partner (English) currently live in Australia, where we recently became civil partners via a small, legal ceremony at the British Consulate. NOTE: this partnership isn't actually recognised where we live, as Australia is not as forward-thinking as the UK.

In May 2007 we're doing the big Irish family 'wedding' in Ireland. It is a shame however that we won't be legally recognised in Ireland.

It's occurred to me that a lot of couples in same-sex relationships will probably have to go through multiple ceremonies if they want to move countries throughout their lifetimes and have equal recognition in those countries. That's a lot of bridesmaids' outfits

Wouldn't it be great to have a civil partnership certificate that would be recognised globally (I know...I'm dreaming here).

Of course this seems like a step in the right direction, but I do hope they don't get bogged down in bureaucracy with this, as we're effectively playing catch up.

Cheers

carbonkid

Im really interested in doing my bit but im not sure what to say in an email like this. Like should i just say dear bla bla gay couples should have the same right as any other couple because...etc?

Annasopra

This is a very rough draft of what I will be sending in

I would first of all like to state that I think it is wrong of the Oireachtas committee on the constitution to decide that families should continue to be constitutionally defined as that based upon a marriage. This means that in effect every person who is in a family outside of the constitutional definition does not have the protections offered by the constitution. I believe that this means that those who choose to form any other family type are in fact second class citizens.

I object to the fact that the committee decided on an almost unanimous basis that there should be no constitutional referendum regarding the definition of the family or giving all persons a right to marry regardless of sexual orientation.

Nonetheless this working group has now been set up to look at "domestic partnerships".

I believe strongly in looking at this issue that the working group should have a strong "equality" based focus, ie the group should not in my opinion presume that same sex partnerships are ONLY affected by financial issues; pensions, inheritance, taxation. A US based study found that entering into marriage meant that a couple accrued over 1000 different rights, entitlements and responsibilities

A 1996 government study found that there are at least 1,049 such protections, rights, and responsibilities that come with marriage under federal law alone. These protections include access to health care and medical decision making for a partner and children, parenting and immigration rights, inheritance, taxation, Social Security and other government benefits, rules for ending a relationship while protecting both parties and the ability to pool resources to buy or transfer property without adverse tax consequences

http://drummajorinstitute.org/library/article_print.php?ID=5518


I believe that same sex couples should be treated exactly the same way as opposite couples. If the government wishes to legislate for civil or domestic partnerships for same sex couples it should not leave out any area; e.g; parenting, immigration, employment legislation

The UK model of civil union legislation would be a good one

This would necessitate in my opinion creating an inventory of every single piece of legislation which affects married couples and creating a bill which would neutralise all of these

Annasopra

You can find other submissions here

http://bb.ucc.ie/viewtopic.php?p=93019&

G L E N

The NLGF welcomes the establishment of the Working Group on Domestic Partnership and is pleased that the group is inviting submissions.

The National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLGF), founded in 1979, focuses on implementing equality and eliminating all discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people.

The NLGF has three main areas of activity:

- publishes Gay Community News (GCN), a monthly community-based all-Ireland newspaper that was founded in 1988. GCN is a key networking tool for the Irish LGBT community, with a monthly print run of 12,000 copies and a readership of 30,000 people.

- manages the Irish Queer Archive, a unique and living collection of information on human rights developments for lesbian and gay people.

- advocates for the implementation of equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, both in Ireland and internationally.

(i) Issues

There has been significant progress in changing circumstances for LGBT people. Decriminalisation and the Equality legislation have made meaningful impacts on peoples lives, as have the growing social and cultural change in Ireland. LGBT people in Ireland can now live much more fulfilling and open lives than when we started out 27 years ago.
However, there remains very significant inequalities which impact on the daily lives of LGBT people in Ireland, which can be encapsulated under the heading of recognition and protection of our intimate relationships. Without enumerating all of these particular issues, we have come across the following significant problems for LGBT people and families, both through our advocacy and support work and through addressing issues in GCN:

- next of kin issues relating to health, prison and other visitation areas, where the partner of a lesbian or gay man may be deprived of access or decision making responsibility in times of ill health

- on death ‘ownership’ of the remains and access to funeral services
security of family status for children living in a lesbian or gay family, such that their family situation is recognised and supported. For example, if the biological parent dies, the children may not be able to remain with their other parent, as that parent has no legal standing in relation to the child.

- security of financial family supports. If a lesbian or gay family split up, there is no security of either family home or financial support from the second parent (as there would be for example with the provisions of the Family Home Protection Act provisions, or maintenance provisions through the Family Courts etc.)

- adoption: while no adult has a ‘right’ to adopt, exclusion of a lesbian or gay partner/parent from adoption creates uncertainties and insecurities for families

- finances: pension, inheritance taxes and death duties, family home protection and transfer after death, joint business transfer and ownership, joint property ownership. The exclusion of lesbian and gay couples and families from provisions available to married couples create very significant hardships.

- immigration: the absence of immigration protocols and procedures for lesbian and gay partners serves to keep couples and families apart, again creating very difficult situations for lesbian and gay people.

(ii) Political and Cultural Climate
There has been significant debate over the last number of years on the question of partnership and family recognition for lesbian and gay people. This debate is essentially over, with a clear acceptance and willingness across all sectors of society to resolve the issues which lesbian and gay people face.

Key points in this regard include:

- the Taoiseach’s recent powerful statements acknowledging that sexual orientation is not to be a cause for being treated as second class citizens, and his commitment to legislate to redress outstanding inequalities.

- the Taoiseach’s commitment (in the GCN interview, May 2006) to bring legislation on civil partnership before the current Dàil.

- broad political consensus: every political party in the Dàil (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, PD’s, Labour, Sinn Fein) have indicated their support for recognising same sex relationships

- recent opinion polls showing that only 32% of people are against partnership legislation for same sex couples (Examiner: March 2006. 51% approved, 27% no opinion).

- Numerous media debates indicating an acceptance of the need to bring forward legislation to treat lesbian and gay couples and families equitably.

So it is clear that Ireland is both willing to and ready to legislate to protect lesbian and gay partnerships and families.

Several State organisations and NGOs have published reports recently to support the case for legalising and recognising Gay and Lesbian relationships. Organisations including the Equality Authority, the Law Reform Commission and NESF have highlighted the need for change to be made, as has the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution and the Law Reform Commission.

(iii) Recommendations
Our understanding is that the Working Group has been tasked with delivering legislative options to the government, for government action. We would encourage the Working Group to respond to the Taoiseach’s recent commitment to enact legislation in the lifetime of the current Dàil. While this leaves a tight timeframe from your reporting date of October to an expected election in early 2007, the Working Group could facilitate this process by presenting draft legislation to the government as part of the final report, or at the very least, Heads of Bill.

We would suggest that the following principles be borne in mind in the development of the options, with the overarching principle as stated by the Taoiseach at the launch of the GLEN strategy on the 4th of April that the government was "unequivocally in favour of treating gay and lesbian people as fully equal citizens in our society".

- Gay men and Lesbians in long-term relationships must be able celebrate and register their intimate relationships in the same way as opposite-sex couples can.

- Gay men and Lesbians must enjoy the same consequences of a legal union as opposite-sex married couples do in all areas. This means that lesbians and gay men should have equal access to all of the protections, privileges and responsibilities that apply to heterosexual couples through civil marriage.

We suggest that the Working Group prioritise, in this order:

1. opening civil marriage to lesbian and gay people. This is the Spanish model (and a one line Bill to parliament).

2. If there exists a constitutional barrier to opening marriage, that the Working Group identify clearly, through publishing the relevant legal opinions, the particular barriers, and identify options to surmount these barriers.

3. development of a model of civil partnership for lesbian and gay people with rights and responsibilities equivalent to, but not exceeding, civil marriage (which the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution seemed to suggest would be constitutional and possible), which would perhaps be called ‘civil partnership’, similar to the UK model

4. additional measures to provide for cohabiting couples, as discussed by the Law Reform Commission in their recent report.


We would be very happy to meet with you to discuss this submission.

Kind Regards
Ailbhe Smyth
Chair, NLGF