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Civil Registration Bill (Marriage Reform)A Tremendous Opportunity Squandered!

March 2004

The reform of marriage regulations outlined in the Civil Registration Bill was an opportunity for far reaching reform of outdated legislation. It was proposed as legislation which would respect the rights of non-religious and religious bodies equally.

This would have marked a first in the modernisation of Irish society. The non religious community is currently discriminated against in a number of ways, and yet those of no-religion outnumber all the Protestant churches in the Republic put together. Equal treatment in this area of civil law would have set a positive standard for other departments of state to follow.

At the last minute in the drafting of the Bill changes were made to accommodate anxieties expressed by the Church of Ireland. No such chance was given to the Association who had submitted wording which would have allowed “non-profit secular associations of an ethical nature” to have been included along with “religious bodies” in the bill.

All reference to solemnisers being nominated by any but religious bodies was dropped from the final draft as it went to the Dail. It is hard to see how those skilled at drafting legislation could not come up with wording to accommodate the non-religious community as represented by the Humanist Association. In reply to questioning in the Dail, Minister Mary Coughlan stated, “The Humanists had not been able to facilitate us” ­ which is clearly nonsense. We put forward reasonable wording and as far as we were concerned those drafting the legislation were going to take account of that in the final version.

We are deeply shocked at the duplicity of the final outcome. Minister Coughlan has either been misled by officials or is playing loose with words.

The final outcome is that a golden opportunity has been squandered. For what reason this has been done we are at a loss to discern. Sadly one has to suspect that it reflects yet again the disdain that vested interests in our society and institutions still harbour towards our community. Ireland’s’ largest ethical minority has yet to be treated with respect in our Republic.

It is of little compensation that our displeasure was reported in the Press - The Irish Times 8 March “Humanists condemn marriage reform bill”, and The Irish Independent 3 March “Excluded humanists say marriage law stinks”

Census 2002

June 2003
Irelands largest ethical minority is now the non-religious community. It is time that this fact was recognised by the powers that be as our community still labours under a discriminatory system.

Religious oaths are required for the highest judicial offices in the state and from the president. Our taxes fund religious run schools which the majority of our children have no option but to attend. They have limited rights of access to those schools and little protection from indoctrination.

Ceremonial occasions of state should incorporate representatives of our community. The National media, particularly RTE funded by the taxpayer, should afford us air time at least equal to smaller minorities such as the Church of Ireland.

Many of the responses ‘not-stated’ in the religious question would also fall under the ‘no-religion’ category which makes a substantial body of opinion indeed in modern Ireland which seldom gets due recognition. Hopefully now our undeniable presence will begin to effect change on the part of the establishment.

Dick Spicer, Vice-chairperson and ceremonies co-ordinator

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