Greg DalyThe Government’s determination to mislead the public is becoming a key issue in the marriage referendum campaign, according to a leading ‘no’ campaigner.
Dr Thomas Finegan, legal advisor to Mothers and Fathers Matter, has rejected claims by former Justice Minister Alan Shatter that surrogacy is an irrelevant distraction in the marriage debate and is being cynically used to generate confusion.
Describing the former minister’s claims as “absolute nonsense” and “mind-boggling”, he said it is impossible to overstate how “manipulative” Mr Shatter and others who have made similar points are being towards the electorate.
Dr Finegan rejected Mr Shatter’s claim that the referendum has nothing to do with children beyond making gay children feel accepted, saying, “It is utterly untrue to say it would have no impact on child’s right to have a mother and a father,” adding that if the referendum is passed, “in all probability it would make it impossible for the Oireachtas to enshrine in law a state of preference for a child to have a mother and a father.”
Observing that Mr Shatter and ministers like Simon Coveney seemed not to have “given this point even a moment’s thought”, Dr Finegan stressed that the issue of surrogacy is, in fact, central to the referendum debate.
“If the referendum passes,” he told The Irish Catholic, “same sex couples will have the constitutional right to procreate, and that in and of itself makes it more likely that the courts would rule that part of their constitutionally protected right to procreate is access to surrogacy and donor-assisted reproduction.”
In such a situation the Oireachtas would be unable to prohibit surrogacy and gamete donation as part of donor-assisted reproduction; while the constitutional right of married couples to found a family can be subject to certain restrictions, he said, for married same-sex couples a ban on surrogacy and gamete donation “wouldn’t be a restriction, it would be an extinction of a right”.
Explaining that “it’s not open to the Oireachtas to extinguish a constitutional right”, Dr Finegan said if the referendum is passed, bans on surrogacy and gamete donation would leave married same-sex couples’ rights to found a family “utterly void of any content”.