Mr David Norris (Ind) asked in the Seanad if it was not odd that Christian churches could bless animals but not people in lesbian relationships.

He said the Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam had recently put out an edict saying he was forbidding ceremonies of affirmation of the friendship and love of lesbian couples.

"I thought this was extraordinary because I wrote to the bishops of the Church of Ireland some years ago asking them to interfere to stop Drumcree and they said they could not.

"They could interfere and intervene to stop a service that affirms love and friendship but they cannot apparently stop one that foments and spreads hatred and division."

Mr Norris was urging that steps be taken to ensure that the inheritance and other rights of married people be afforded to those in "domestic partnerships".