Madam, – The final one third of the Bill (Part 15), is about relationships between two people living together but not married. If the Bill is enacted, when such a couple split up after three years living together (two years if they have had at least one child), one person may sue the other person for maintenance, a lump sum of money, rights to the house they have lived in together, and a share of a person’s pension.
While a majority of people in Ireland think that marriage is the best scheme for two people to live together and have children, there is a substantial minority which thinks that the rules of marriage take away from a person’s freedom to such a big degree that it is not worth it for the financial safety net provided. Of the many people who live together not being married, a substantial portion do so as a definite choice, different from marriage, because they value their own independence and do not like the idea of being an adult dependant.
Up to the middle of the 20th century, while this was always an option under the law, social norms put strong pressure on young people not to live together (unmarried), but rather always to marry.
Irish society has improved in the past 30 years so that people can exercise a choice that was always legal. The earliest couples living together had to struggle for this social right. They risked their families cutting off contact with them. Subsequent generations of couples living together have it easier because the early couples pushed society to change. The social freedom to live together and not marry has been hard won.
If the Civil Partnership Bill is enacted, such people will have their hard-won option reduced. If the Bill is enacted the State will be telling people that they may live together and not marry, but if they split after three years they will be treated much as married persons separating or divorcing, with one person having a legal financial hold on the other person. This would be a serious reduction in freedom to choose between the somewhat dependent form of couple relationship (marriage) and the form of couple relationship where both parties plan to be more independent and self sufficient.
The Bill provides that people can opt out of its obligations, but this requires bothparties' agreement, and a court can override the agreement.
It is those aged 25 to 35 who will be affected. They have little awareness of this Bill, and perhaps they are less driven to seek influence with legislators, so this section of the Bill needs to be the subject of public discussion. – Yours, etc,