Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2024-02-29
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

My concern is that legal ambiguity around durable relationships, which will be families if the referendum passes, will only arise where there are disputes, between members of a family or between Revenue and a family. Given that we have no legal framework, the only way to resolve those disputes will be to go to court, and perhaps one court after another, up to the Supreme Court. The Tánaiste mentioned a lot of legislation. I can only comment on one. He talked about the family reunification Act of 2015. The most recent case on that is the 2020 case in the Supreme Court, where it said when talking about the durability of a relationship:
Thus, a durable partnership will tend to be one of some duration, but that is not to say that the duration of the relationship is, in itself, a defining feature...it is perfectly possible for a committed long-term, what is often called a “serious” relationship, to exist between persons who have known one [another] for a short time.
That conflicts with what the Tánaiste said a moment ago about transient relationships. The outcome of this case was that the court said the Minister could not make a two-year cohabitation period mandatory for family reunification and that the Minister has flexibility.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-02-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-02-29