Irish Judge to Rule on Gay Marriage Rights

A lesbian couple yesterday launched a high court challenge against the Irish government's refusal to recognise their marriage, in a case that could have implications for thousands of cohabiting couples in Ireland.

Catherine Zapaonne and Louise Gilligan appeared in the high court in Dublin to seek a judicial review of the inspector of taxes' refusal to recognise them as a couple.

Dr Zapaonne, a public policy consultant and member of the Human Rights Commission, and Dr Gilligan, an academic, have lived together for 23 years and own a house together in county Dublin. They are Irish citizens and married in Vancouver, Canada, in September last year - a marriage recognised under Canadian law. When they returned to Ireland and applied for the tax allowances of a married couple, their application was rejected.

The couple claimed there was no legal impediment to the recognition of same-sex marriage. They argued that an opposite-sex couple resident in Ireland who married in Canada would be recognised. Lawyers said the revenue of fice's refusal to grant them the same tax relief as a heterosexual married couple was discriminatory and breached their constitutional and human rights under the European convention.

The couple want leave to seek orders forcing the state and the revenue to recognise their Canadian marriage. They are also seeking damages. The judge will make his ruling this morning.

The Irish government has yet to recognise same-sex relationships. Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993, and despite the loosened grip of the Catholic church on society, civil rights groups argue that Ireland lags far behind other European states in its stance on cohabiting couples.

Currently, cohabiting heterosexual and same-sex couples are not given the same tax advantages as married couples. If one dies, the surviving partner cannot inherit their shared home without paying the same high levels of inheritance tax as a non-relative. A same-sex partner has no right to be treated as next of kin nor to be consulted on the health of their partner.

There are more than 77,000 cohabiting couples in Ireland, of which more than 1,000 gay couples declared themselves in the 2002 census. Last year the Equality Authority of Ireland issued a paper arguing for legal recognition of cohabiting couples, including same-sex couples. Early next year, a senator, David Norris, is to put forward a bill in the senate proposing government recognition for all partners who live together. He said it was "more necessary than ever".

Marriage has special protection under the Irish constitution, and the courts have been reluctant to give recognition to non-marital unions even when there have been cohabitation agreements.

If the recognition of cohabiting couples requires a change to the constitution, there could be a national referendum - a word that provokes dread in the minds of many civil rights campaigners. Referendums on divorce and abortion have repeatedly polarised Ireland over the past decades.

An all-party parliamentary committee is considering if the constitution should be changed to allow gay marriage.

Brian Finnegan, the editor of Gay Community News in Dublin, said there was a general feeling that the gay community had suffered "oppression by silence".