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RENEW challenges Government
proposal
22.11.09
DONEGAL-based Christian
advocacy group RENEW is challenging the Government
over its Civil Partnership Bill which has been
debated in the Dáil. RENEW, an advocacy group that
seeks to re-establish the pre-eminence of the family
as the basis of Irish society, says the Bill
outwardly discriminates against Christians and
Catholics.
“The Civil Partnership Bill will ultimately dilute
the sanctity of marriage and remove the core
protection of the state from the traditional family
unit,” says RENEW founder and Buncrana native Mary
Doherty. “We are calling on our TDs and Senators to
review the Bill in this context and to give due
regard to the Irish constitution which has the
family at its centre.”
The Bill gives same sex couples many of the rights
of married couples and the programme for Government
agreed by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party gives a
commitment to introduce the Bill in the Dáil before
the end of the year. |
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“This Bill imposes the
agenda of same sex couples on us,” Mary Doherty
says. “What about the rights of Catholics and
Christians who do not believe that same sex couples
should get married or have children? What is the
Government going to do about our rights? The
government represents the common good not the
minority.” |
RENEW likens the Bill
to communist Europe and says that communism is alive
and well with publication of this Bill. Mary Doherty
says that apparent legal guarantees given to the
Irish people by the Government during the second
Lisbon Treaty referendum in respect of the family
are misleading and challenges government saying
“Where are those guarantees now in the context of
the Civil Partnership Bill?”
RENEW, which was founded in June of this year and
enjoys the support of Dr Seamus Hegarty, Bishop of
Derry, seeks to influence and renew modern day
thinking in regard to human behaviour and to
position itself as an authoritative voice on
Christian moral values.
“We see our organisation as promoting progression
through renewal, that is, re-introducing traditional
values into family life,” Mary Doherty says. “With
the advent of the recession and the decline in
living standards in Irish society we believe that
there is a need to reaffirm traditional family and
moral values. We want to see a change in direction
from Government, the media and our educational
institutions whom we believe are the key influencers
in modern Irish society.”
RENEW will be campaigning against the introduction
of the Civil Partnership Bill and intends to lobby
all Government TDs and Senators. For more
information on RENEW’s see
www.renewcampaign.com .
(Inishowen Independent) |
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