The Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) has strongly denied supporting the right of Muslim men in Ireland to marry more than once.
The council issued a statement today denouncing media reports suggesting they supported polygamy by opposing a new requirement that Muslim men married to Irishwomen swear an affidavit not to marry a second time.
Ms Aisling Reidy, director of the ICCL described the reports as "inaccurate, misleading and false".
The ICCL denounced the measure but today said their condemnation did not amount to support for polygamy.
"The ICCL does not and has never advocated recognition of polygamy, but this has nothing to do with the discriminatory - and potentially unlawful - policy adopted by the Department of Justice requiring males of the Muslim faith, lawfully married to an Irish spouse, to swear a religious specific affidavit," Ms Reidy said.
Ms Reidy said the Department's rationale for introducing the requirement is "based purely on a prejudicial assumption about Islam and all persons of the Muslim faith".
"It assumes that ... Muslims, irrespective of whether they come from secular societies or states that do not recognise polygamy, do not understand or would not respect the normal law of the land because they are 'different'," Ms Reidy said.
The measure may also be illegal and unconstitutional, she added, referring to the 1956 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act. While the Government removed the right to "declaratory citizenship" from non-Irish spouses married after November 30th 2002, article Article 40.1 of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law. And the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 also prohibits treating someone differently on religious grounds, Ms Reidy said.
"The affidavit process is not about confirming the ban in Ireland of polygamy [but] on an unfounded, and prejudiced, assumption of the intent of male Muslims not to understand or respect the law of Ireland.
"This is the religious discrimination," Ms Reidy said.