Ireland: Constitutional Convention votes overwhelmingly in favour of referendum on same-sex marriage
Ireland’s Constitutional Convention has voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding a referendum on legalising same-sex marriage.
This afternoon 79 out of 100 convention members voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage in the Irish Constitution. 81 voted in favour of enacting laws to give “appropriate” protections to the same-sex parents of children, and 78 voted that the laws should be enacted throughout Ireland, rather than on a state-by-state basis.
The Convention was set up last year by the Irish Government to examine possible changes to the Irish Constitution, among them the possibility of legalising same-sex marriage.
It consists of 33 parliamentary members of the Dail (Irish lower house) and Seanad (Irish senate) and MLAs from Northern Ireland, 66 members of the public, and an independent chairperson.
On Saturday the Convention gathered in Dublin to hear over 1000 submissions in the debate from legal experts, rights groups, religious organisations, and individuals.
Mark Kelly, the Director of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties, submitted in support of same-sex marriage: “We already have civil partnership, this is simply another small incremental step. At the end of the day, this has got nothing to do with sexual orientation, and I find it surprising that the church are obsessed with that and with the gender question.”
Following today’s vote the Irish Government will have four months to respond.