this is being debated in the dail tomorrow. as far as i can tell the plan is to introduce a plan to allow same sex couples to have a recognized union (but not opposite sex couples) and then separately legislate for things like tax and social welfare issues rather than simply allow any two people to marry with all of the rights currently granted to married people. it also seems to ignore the relationships between one partner and the other partners children. the whole thing is quite offensive really but i dont suppose anyone is too concerned about it what with the recession and the budget and stuff.