Irish leader Enda Kenny has point blank refused to say whether he supports gay marriage or not, despite a majority of his cabinet expressing their support. He stated it was a matter for the upcoming constitutional convention to decide how to proceed.
Kenny angrily stated he would not be pressurized into a “box-ticking exercise” after he came under attack from opposition members to announce his position.
“You’re not going to pressurise both me as a citizen or as a leader of government into a box-ticking exercise here to say: ‘line them up now’ because I speak from this seat as government,” he told the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin during Leaders’ Questions.
Kenny, considered a liberal Catholic, surprised many with his hands off approach.
The issue has been very prominent after the Deputy Leader and Labour Party head Eamon Gilmore’s comments that gay marriage was the “civil rights issue of this generation”. Irish Education Minister Ruairi Quinn also described the introduction of gay marriage equality as the 'next step' for Ireland this week.
Quinn told Newstalk Radio that the Irish Labour Party has always supported full equality for gays. But Quinn says that the decision must be made by the Irish through a referendum, with reassurances given that to introduce it will not affect or undermine heterosexual marriage.
Meanwhile, Cork City Council became the first local authority in the Republic to officially support gay marriage, after unanimously passing a motion in favor of it on Monday.
The motion in support of gay marriage equality gained an important backer in the Irish Cabinet, with Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar expressing his cautious support this week.
The Cork council vote was put forward by Sinn Fein councillor Michael Nugent, who told The Journal that gay marriage is 'an essential part of an equality agenda.'
'I’m very happy that Cork City Council has taken the lead on this, and I hope it has sent out a signal to people in the gay and lesbian communities in Cork city and further afield that the struggle is ongoing for recognition and equality in society,' Councilor Nugent added. 'I hope this is a step in that struggle.'
Nugent said that the introduction of civil partnerships were 'a significant move' but that there were 'major differences' between the partnerships and full marriage.
The council measure followed a similar motion passed by Belfast City Council last week. However, unionist councillors walked out before the Belfast vote and most representatives of the Alliance party abstained, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.STEVENSTAR | Apr 15, 2013, 08:42 AM EDT
@@oldboreen | Jul 11, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT My personal views on gay marriage will be of no interest to anyone here. I will say however, that I firmly uphold Enda Kenny's decision to remain silent on the issue of same sex marriage. He has a perfect right to exercise conscience.Until or unless he makes his personal views known,we should make no judgements one way or the other.>>>>> BUT YOUR AMERICAN LIVING IN AMERICA AND BORN THERE.. GAY MARRIAGE IN IRELAND OR ENDA KENNY AND OUR GOVERMENT HAS REALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU .. UNLESS YOUR AN IRISH CITIZEN AND LIVING OVER HERE IN IRELAND LIKE I AM!!!
STEVENSTAR | Apr 15, 2013, 08:40 AM EDT
YERRA KENNY IS SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH IRELAND AND IRISH CITIZENS ITS COMICAL.. HOW HE GOT INTO GOVERMENT ILL NEVER KNOW.. HIS TOO BUSY RUNNING AROUND AMERICAN HANDING OUT BOWLS OF SHAMROCKS TO THE TANKS AND KISSIN THEIR ASSES.. THE QUICKER NOW WE GET SOME YOUNGER FRESHER NEW BLOOD INTO IRISH POLITICS THE BETTER AND SEND ALL THSE OULD FELLAS PACKING THE BETTER FOR ALL OF US.. HOW AN EX SCHOOL TEACHER LIKE KENNY CAN GO ON AND RUN ANY COUNRY IS WAY BEYOND ME..
ciaradexy | Jul 12, 2012, 12:23 PM EDT
rpbrown, marriage between same sex couples will happen within the next 5 years. I have a few gay mates who want to get married and as we all know, gay men throw the best parties so their wedding is gonna be amazing!!
rpbrown | Jul 11, 2012, 11:15 PM EDT
And it seems to me, the number one threat to marriage isn't gay people getting married, it's divorce! If you all are so serious about the sanctity of marriage make divorce illegal. Stopping blaming your problems on gay people you don't even know!
rpbrown | Jul 11, 2012, 11:13 PM EDT
Unless you want to have a same sex marriage, this issue is none of your business!!! Stop blaming your high divorce rates, unhappy family homes and your own guilty thoughts on gay people! I'm not in your home-that's your business not mine! So STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY HOME! If I pay taxes in Ireland, I have EVERY right to marry any human I chose in Ireland. I don't give a crap whether you think it's right or wrong in God's eyes or whatever you claim to believe, that's your business not mine! LEAVE GAY PEOPLE ALONE, if they want to get married, it's not your business!! So if Mr. Kenny is coming from a place not of judgement but of "this really has nothing to do with me" I sort of appreciate that.
PiperMac52 | Jul 11, 2012, 05:51 PM EDT
Kudos to Mr. Kenny, a rare man willing to stand for his principals and faith held beliefs.
oldboreen | Jul 11, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT
My personal views on gay marriage will be of no interest to anyone here. I will say however, that I firmly uphold Enda Kenny's decision to remain silent on the issue of same sex marriage. He has a perfect right to exercise conscience.Until or unless he makes his personal views known,we should make no judgements one way or the other.
alisaann | Jul 11, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT
gays people are HUMAN BEINGS....and should have the SAME RIGHTS as HETROSEXUALS....this isn't about wanting to marry MORE then 1 person at a time or wanting to marry a family member or an ANIMAL....this is about wanting to marry a person of the SAME GENDER and having ALL THE SAME RIGHTS & PROTECTIONS that STRAIGHT COUPLE HAVE "TAKEN" FOR GRANTED FOR YEARS....and STOP making this about same-sex couple NOT being able to have kids...STRAIGHT COUPLE don't want kids or can't have them....should they be KEPT FROM MARRYING?....HELL, some straight couples shouldn't have kids period.....LOVE IS LOVE, NO MATTER THE "GENDER" OR RACE OF THOSE INVOLVED....SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WILL HARM HETROSEXUAL MARRIAGE, unless those in the marriage ALLOW it to happen....GOD MADE EVERYONE, INCLUDING GAYS. alisa
eiriamach | Jul 11, 2012, 04:26 PM EDT
"Giver of every gift, source of all goodness, hear the prayers we bring before you for __N__ and __N__, who seek your blessing this day. Give them a share in the saving work of Jesus, who gave himself for us, and bring about the fullness of life he promised, who now lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen." -- the Collect prayer in the recently adopted Episcopal Church blessing of lifelong covenants. It is a beautiful liturgy (as most wedding ceremonies are), available on line as "Excerpts from "'I Will Bless You, and You Will Be a Blessing' Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships," by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church, March 7, 2012.
hollabackgurl | Jul 11, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT
If you're going to call yourself IrishThinker shouldn't you take special care to ensure the name applies? I wish that posters like this could realise how hurtful their windy rhetoric is to heterosexual couples who find themselves being called 'unnatural' for having to follow the similar sperm/egg donation or surrogacy route to gay couples often do. Appealing to nature to condemn gay people is frankly stupid, since homosexuality is found all over nature, and indeed is as aspect of nature.
irishpjk | Jul 11, 2012, 12:41 PM EDT
Words and their meanings Marriage: One male and one female Husband: Male Wife: Female Father: Male Mother: Female I could go on but if you haven’t got by now you won’t.
IrishThinker | Jul 11, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT
No Government anywhere, no Court anywhere and no referendum anywhere can re-define marriage. By nature it is male and female. Make regulations for same-gender unions, live-ins and such which is a legitimate concern of Government, to regulate the civil society. But allow Nature, God to decide what marriage is. IF they do go with the idiotic culture of the Left, think it through; property rights, children's rights if they already had any or if they rent a womb, and conscience protection to allow religious groups to opt-out- Clegg in the UK wants to force the Churches to perform them. When Ireland allowed divorce, they did not think it through. They might get Dr Reilly to find HSE cash so men and women could get surgery to take turns at being Jill and Judy/Jack and Jimmy for real social equity. That would really even out the genders, may not be acceptable to Mother Nature of course. Then they could call the ocean the desert and bogs could become land for planting wheat and spuds. Just pass a law and make it all go away.
Murph46 | Jul 11, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT
Here's to the man who takes a stand!-One For the Morning Glories-Makem&Clancy
hollabackgurl | Jul 11, 2012, 10:35 AM EDT
Next thing you know conservatives will have no choice but to treat gay people with dignity and consideration and then who'll be left to vote for the Republicans? I'm not sure why MikeHoulihan is so concerned about the fate of 'habitual masturbators'? Maybe he has a special interest in their fate?
JohnKinMD | Jul 11, 2012, 10:16 AM EDT
How about people marring their dogs.
mikehoulihan | Jul 11, 2012, 10:00 AM EDT
God bless Enda. He is absolutely right, why should he be steamrolled by a liberal media. Let the people vote on gay marriage. Gay marriage is the epitome of an oxymoron. Calling it a "civil right" is ridiculous. People who define themselves by their sexual behavior are fools. Next thing you know habitual masturbators will be demanding their "civil rights". The world has gone mad!
hollabackgurl | Jul 11, 2012, 09:46 AM EDT
He isn't right, he hasn't taken a position, he has avoided taking a position. That's the absence of leadership. Maybe he should resign and give the job to someone who can demonstrate leadership?
DonegalDanny | Jul 11, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT
He is right.
hollabackgurl | Jul 11, 2012, 09:24 AM EDT
Civil equality is just a "box ticking exercise" for Enda, then. Grand, so. His honeymoon, which by the way has been far from orthodox itself, has just ended. The gombeen beneath the Louis Copeland suit emerges. What a sour and unconvincing response he made. Way to stall the tide of history Enda. This issue has a tendency to reveal what people are made of and it just did.