The Government has announced plans to give legal recognition to same-sex couples but the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan, has ruled out gay marriage as being in conflict with the Constitution.
The Minister said last night that the heads of a Bill to legislate for civil partnerships would be ready by next March and the Government would then proceed as quickly as possible with detailed legislation.
Mr Lenihan said the Government opposed a Labour Party Bill on civil unions, originally tabled last March, as the clear advice of the Attorney General was that it was contrary to the explicit recognition given to the family based on marriage in the Constitution.
The Green Party, which strongly backed the Labour Bill in the spring, expressed support for the Government with the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, saying he was pleased that for the first time the State would soon recognise the validity of same-sex partnerships.
The Labour Party spokesman on the Constitution and Law Reform, Brendan Howlin, described the Government rejection of his party's Bill as "a shameful abdication of responsibility on the part of the three parties in government".
Mr Lenihan told the Dáil last night that many same-sex couples wanted to be recognised within society and to create mutually enforceable rights and obligations towards each other but he was adamant that the mechanism proposed by the Labour Party was not the way to achieve this objective because it referred to the rights and duties of marriage as similarly applying to parties to civil unions.
"It is no light thing to say that this risks impugning the provisions of Article 41.3.1, which I will remind the House states that 'the State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it against attack'.
"The advice available to me on the matter is crystal clear, and indicates that a legislative approach which seeks to define any other type of relationship expressly in terms of marriage, as the Civil Unions Bill 2006 attempts to do, is constitutionally unsound."
The Minister said that as well as the question of same-sex partnerships there were also issues of importance to many people such as next-of-kin status, pensions, and inheritance that required a well-considered and constitutionally sound legislative response.
He said that as well as providing for a significant degree of equality for same-sex couples the Government wanted to extend legal protection to a very vulnerable cohort, economically dependent cohabitants, on termination of their relationships.
Mr Howlin attacked the Government for rejecting his party's Bill. "I am astonished that the Green Party whose members voted for and praised the Civil Unions Bill in February are going along with this approach and support a Government amendment that contains nothing more than a vague promise to legislate at some time in the future, with no deadline at all."
He added that back in the spring the Green TD, Ciarán Cuffe, had called on the Fianna Fáil-led government to have the courage to support the Labour Bill.
"It looks now that the Green Party has lost the courage it was urging Fianna Fáil to show eight months ago," said Mr Howlin..
Last night Mr Cuffe praised the Labour Party for bringing forward the motion on civil partnership but said the Green Party's TDs would be voting against it as the new legislation would better address the many legal complexities involved.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomed the Dáil debate. Director Mark Kelly said civil partnership would be a step in the right direction but only the introduction of civil marriage for same-sex couples would achieve full equality of status with opposite-sex couples.