Debate contribution: Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Eóin Tennyson on 20 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Eóin Tennyson

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

20 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5493292

Read the official Assembly record

Text

On behalf of the Alliance Party, I support the Second Stage of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill. I look forward to supporting the Bill through its legislative stages over the remainder of the mandate. The Bill has been a long time coming, given that it was first consulted on in 2021 and 2022, albeit an abeyance of the Assembly delayed proceedings. I place on record my thanks to officials in the Department who have been working throughout the period. It is a small but mighty team with lots of work streams, and it has put in an incredible shift to get the Bill to this stage. It is overwhelmingly clear from the consultation responses that there is widespread public support for raising the minimum age of marriage to 18. It is a step that is overdue and that will, undoubtedly, strengthen protections for children and young people against forced marriage and pressured marriage, in particular, as well as bring us into line with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendations and our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. There are multiple reasons for raising the age. We know that, before the age of 18, younger people are much more vulnerable to coercion from family members, peers or their partners. Given that marriage is a lifelong commitment, it is right that we raise the age to 18, in line with the generally accepted age of adulthood, to ensure that young people are making a fully informed and independent choice. It is also significant that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described child marriage as a "form of gender-based discrimination" and violence, because evidence suggests, first, that it is more common that it is young women who are being married under the age of 18, and, secondly, that those young people are subject to unequal power dynamics, more susceptible and vulnerable to domestic abuse and more likely to become economically dependent as they are much more likely to leave school early and, as a result, miss out on a raft of economic and career opportunities. Significant evidence also exists to suggest that people who are married in childhood are more likely to experience mental health challenges throughout their lives. Therefore, I support the steps that are being taken to raise the minimum age. I am also supportive of the steps that the Minister is taking to criminalise those who would arrange child marriages. The second element of the Bill relates to placing belief marriage on the same legal and permanent basis as religious marriage. That is a long-overdue and important step forward for equality. It is regrettable, as the leader of the Opposition mentioned, that progress in that space had to be secured initially through the courts rather than the Assembly. Today, however, there is an opportunity to remedy that position and to legislate for the outworkings of the 2017 case. This is not about elevating one world view over another. It is about treating people of religious belief and non-religious belief equally in law. For the Alliance Party, that is a no-brainer. We believe in an open, respectful, plural and inclusive society where the state does not privilege any one group over another. I also support the Minister's approach to registration and eligibility. It is a delicate balance, but the more pragmatic approach that the Minister has taken to dealing with it and the flexibility to deal with it through regulation are welcome. On the challenges facing independent celebrants, I am keen to hear from the Minister in his winding-up speech whether the ongoing review in England and Wales has informed his thinking and whether he has any plans to come back to that issue in future mandates. From the contact that I have had with independent celebrants, I am conscious of the fact that some couples do not fit neatly into the belief marriage or the religious marriage space. Couples can come at life with different religious views or perspectives. Some wish to have ceremonies that incorporate non-religious and religious elements, and they find that independent celebrants are often the only route that they can take to allow them to get married in accordance with their own values, including a ceremony in which the views of both partners in the relationship will be respected.

If, in the next mandate, the Minister therefore has any plans to make independent celebrants more accessible to people so that they do not have to visit the registry office before having a ceremony that reflects their values, that would be a really welcome development. Like the leader of the Opposition, if no-fault divorce is not to be part of the Bill, I am keen to hear when we are likely to see progress made in that space. I absolutely welcome the Bill. It is an important step forward, and I look forward to supporting it during its remaining legislative stages.

823 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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