Marriage Equality's Election Manifesto Review

16 Feb 2011

Following the publication of Fine Gael's election manifesto yesterday, we have put together a summary guide to what the main political parties have said about marriage equality in their general election 2011 manifestos. We hope you find it useful when talking to canvassers at your door. Don't forget you can download the canvassing tool here and please e-mail or call us with any feedback you have from canvassers.

Introduction

This document outlines the findings of a review of the main political parties' manifestos to establish their commitments, if any, to marriage equality, civil partnership, LGBT rights generally and other equality issues. The key findings with regard to marriage equality and other LGBT issues are highlighted below, with more detail on the specific commitments, if any, of each party on LGBT issues and on Equality issues generally, described in the second section of this report.

Key Findings

The Green party, the Labour party, Sinn Fein and The United Left Alliance all commit to progressing marriage equality with Sinn Fein being the only party to commit to legislating to introduce civil marriage for same-sex couples, while Labour and the Green party commit to a referendum to progress the issue. The United Left Alliance commit to supporting equal rights for LGBT people including the right to marry for same sex couples. Sinn Fein and Fine Gael both make commitments in relation to progressing the law in relation to Civil Partnership. While the Green party and the Labour party also make specific commitments in relation to LGBT parenting and family rights, with the Labour party also making further commitments on a range of other LGBT issues.

 

Marriage Equality
- Sinn Fein commit to legislating to permit and recognise civil marriage for same sex couples in their manifesto.
- The Labour Party commit to holding a referendum to provide for constitutional recognition of marriage equality.
- The Green Party commit to seeking to have the Constitution amended to permit civil marriage for same sex couples if the Zappone & Gilligan case is not sucessful
- The United Left Alliance state they support full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including the right to marry for same sex couples.

 

LGBT Parenting and Family Rights
- Labour commit to entitling all parties to a marriage or civil partnership to apply to adopt a child.
- The Green Party states that they will seek to further reform family law in Ireland to protect the welfare of children in a variety of families, including providing for the extension of legal guardianship to de facto parents.

 

Civil Partnership
- Sinn Fein promise to provide full and equal recognition of all civil partnerships in law.
- Fine Gael commit to amending tax law in a second Finance Act in 2011 to give effect to the rights for civil partners and cohabiting couples introduced in the Civil Partnership Act 2010

 

LGBT Rights Generally
- The Labour Party also commit to advancing other LGBT rights issues, such as extending the tax benefits for married couples to civil partners; amending section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts (1998) and (2004); and advancing equality for trans-gender people.

- The Green Party also commit to ensuring that the Department of Education and Skills develops and implements a strategic action plan to address homophobic bullying and ensure schools and colleges provide a safe environment for LGB students AND to ensuring the continuation of the HSE-National Office of Suicide Prevention LGBT Mental Health Programme

- Fine Gael commit to encouraging schools to develop anti-bullying policies and in particular strategies to combat homophobic bullying to support students.

 

Review findings for each Political Party

Fianna Fail
Fianna Fail's manifesto entitled "Real Plan Better Future" focuses on three areas; Reviving the economy; Restoring jobs and Political reform.

  • There are no references to marriage equality or LGBT rights or equality issues generally.

Fine Gael
Fine Gael's manifesto makes no reference to marriage equality. However under section 18 of the report covering finances and taxation, they do commit to amending tax law in a second Finance Act in 2011 to give effect to the rights for civil partners and cohabiting couples introduced in the Civil Partnership Act 2010. (p, 66).

They make one further commitment relating directly to LGBT issues, under the education section, they commit to encouraging schools to develop anti-bullying policies and in particular strategies to combat homophobic bullying to support students. (p. 36)

In terms of equality and human rights generally they state that under their public reform proposals in section 19 of the report that they will "encourage all public bodies to take due note to equality and human rights in carrying out their functions". However worryingly in the section covering Jobs, Enterprise and Growth under subsection relating to, Reducing Red Tape and Bad Regulations, they commit to absorbing The Equality Authority into a proposed new agency entitled Business Inspection and Licensing Authority (BILA) which will have as it's brief to be "charged with applying international best practices in regulatory compliance and risk-based enforcement". (p, 56)

 

Green Party
In the Green Party's manifesto entitled "Renewing Ireland" under the section entitled "A Better Ireland creating a fair, safe and sustainable Ireland ", there is a sub-section outlining their commitments to same-sex couples. The green party make 4 commitments:

  • In the event of the Supreme Court ruling against Zappone and Gilligan, they will seek to have the Constitution amended to permit civil marriage for same sex couples. (p,18)
  • They will seek to further reform family law in Ireland to protect the welfare of children in a variety of families, including providing for the extension of legal guardianship to de facto parents.(p.18)
  • They will ensure that the Department of Education and Skills develops and implements a strategic action plan to address homophobic bullying and ensure schools and colleges provide a safe environment for LGB students (p.27)
  • Ensure the continuation of the HSE-National Office of Suicide Prevention LGBT Mental Health Programme (p.30)

Under this section of their manifesto they also outline over 12 pages of commitments with regard to a wide range of equality issues including; social exclusion, children's rights, older people, disability, homelessness, Travellers and Human Trafficking.

 

Labour Party
In the Labour party manifesto's "One Ireland: Jobs, Reform, Fairness" there is a specific section covering LGBT rights (page, 78).

Under this section Labour states they are committed to:

  • Holding a referendum to provide for constitutional recognition of civil marriage for same sex couples.
  • Entitling all parties to a marriage or civil partnership to apply to adopt a child,

Under this section they also commit to:

  • In the immediate term enacting provisions to extend the tax benefits of marriage to same sex couples in civil partnerships.
  • Ensuring all publicly funded colleges operate in accordance with the constitutional right to Freedom of Conscience. (Labour will ensure the five teaching colleges introduce a Freedom of Conscience clause so that trainee teachers no longer are obliged to undergo compulsory religious education).
  • Amending Section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts (1998) and (2004) to end discrimination against LGBT teachers and trainee teachers, and to ensure that there is no obstacle to schools tackling homophobic bullying.
  • Continuing to fund Gay HIV Strategies.
  • Labour will advance equality for trans-gender people by enacting gender recognition legislation, and by extending to them protections afforded by existing equality legislation.

Sinn Fein
Outlined in their manifesto under the section entitled "Building an Ireland of Equals, Sinn Fein make a direct commitment

  • To legislate to permit and recognise marriage for same sex couples in their manifesto.
  • They also promise to provide full and equal recognition of all civil partnerships in law. (Page, 34).

In this section they also commit to bring equality and human rights into every area of their policy and to press for the fulfilment of the principle of equivalence in human rights and equality protections between the Six Counties and 26 Counties and for their continual improvement.

They also commit to supporting the independence of the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority, as well as commitments to equality proof all laws and policies and to ensuring multi-annual funding is made available to the community and voluntary sector and to protect the voluntary sectors right to engage in advocacy.

 

United Left Alliance

The newly formed UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE (ULA) comprises of a number of left-wing political groups, including People Before Profit Alliance, the Socialist Party, Socialist Workers' Party, and other smaller groups. In their manifesto under section 5 entitled " Equality for all" they state they support equality for all and the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on gender, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.

They also state they support full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including the right to marry for same sex couple

In terms of broader equality issues they also outline their support for workers rights and the improvement of rights for asylum seekers and migrant workers.