In the Seanad last week Dermot Ahern said he was "deeply proud" of the Civil Partnership Bill. Good  for him. But apart from the fact that the Constitution prevents him pressing on to full gay marriage, it is not at all clear from his pronouncements why he would oppose such a move.

In  fact, to the best of my knowledge, each time he has addressed why gay and lesbian couples aren't being given marriage he has referred them to the Constitution and has not offered a principled defence of traditional marriage and why it enjoys a special position in the Constitution.

This begs the question; does our Justice Minister actually believe it should enjoy special status? There is absolutely no indication that he does.

If so, then it would seem that he sees no advantage in a child having a loving mother and father who are marrIed to each other. If no such advantage exists, then there is no reason to give traditional marriage special standing. It logically follows.

The family diversity position, contrary to all evidence, is that there is no real advantage to a child being raised by a loving, married mother and father  as distinct from being raised in any other kind of loving family (single parents, step-families, gay families etc).

If this point of view is right (and it is not), then there is no reason to give traditional marriage special status. It would indeed be discrimination.

But if they are wrong (and they are), then it should continue to have special status and this is not discrimination because it makes sense to treat something specially that is special.

This returns us to the question, what does Dermot Ahern believe? We have a right to know. Indeed, what does the Government believe? What does Fine Gael believe for that matter?