Ireland’s Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Eamon Gilmore has said marriage for gay couples is a human right and said he would like to see a referendum in Ireland take place.
Speaking to the RTE radio show “Morning Ireland” Gilmore said, “I don't believe that we should postpone what is a human right and that is one of the reasons why we've asked the Constitutional Convention (to look at it).
The Constitutional Convention will assemble for the first time this December.
Moninne Griffith from Marriage Equality told 98FM news that she believes voters will be having their say on the issue in just over a year. She said the Irish Government could call a referendum as soon as early 2014 and that gay marriage in Ireland could be a reality by the end of the 2014.
A recent poll showed support at 66 per cent for same sex marriage.
The Behaviour and Attitudes poll in the Sunday Times Ireland edition found that among the 971 people who were surveyed earlier this month, two thirds believe in gay marriage with legal entitlements.
The poll showed support for gay marriage is slightly stronger among women than men and is higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
While the majority of those polled believe in legal same-sex marriage, 26 percent believed that current legislation should remain where it stands where gay couples can only enter a civil partnership and eight percent said they did not know or had no opinion on the issue.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has described the issue of gay marriage as the “civil rights issue of this generation."
Gilmore said Ireland winning a seat on the UN Human Rights Council was a measure of the restoration of Ireland’s reputation and a vindication of the country’s human rights record.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Ireland’s priorities would be freedom of religion, the position of women in many societies, and the position of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in some countries.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Seanmor | Nov 15, 2012, 09:58 AM EST
Given the current liberism in the Irish state, such a referendum would have a very good chance of passing. But the Bible-inspired Catholic church would never give its blessing to same-sex marriages.
mairint | Nov 15, 2012, 05:54 AM EST
There is no such thing as homosexual marriage Mr. Gilmore. It is called sodomy. You are a sick little man Mr. Gilmore. You should crawl back to where you came from and stop trying to destroy what is left of Ireland.
CitizenWhy | Nov 14, 2012, 12:20 PM EST
The Roman Catholic church uses a philosophical concept called Natural Law (which it has raised to a theological absolute) to insist that marriage , civil as well as sacramental, must be denied to gay couples. According to the church the pope is the ultimate, sole authentic interpreter of Natural Law and his interpretations bind Catholics to defy their own country's laws and constitutions to impose the Catholic Church's teaching on all citizens. Most people today reject the peculiar Catholic notion of Natural Law in favor of Natural Rights, including a woman's natural right to govern her own body and a gay person's natural right to enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, including marriages recognized by the state. There is no reconciling the Catholic church's notion of Natural Law with Natural Rights. There is no reconciling the church's notion of Natural law with democracy. There is no way to reconcile the church's notion of Natural Law, since it depends on medieval science, with modern science.
Nicoletta | Nov 14, 2012, 11:06 AM EST
Marriage is between a man and a woman, period.