Irish Could Vote on Marriage Equality Next Year, Says Deputy Prime Minister

Irish tanaiste (deputy prime minister) Eamon Gilmore told a group of LGBT advocates that the nation could vote on marriage equality in 2014, according to the Independent, an Irish newspaper.The liberal member of the ruling Labor Party said a national referendum could take place after the government reviews a forthcoming report about the impact of marriage equality.

Gilmore was speaking at a gathering organized by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network in Dublin on Saturday when he was asked about the likelihood that the Constitutional Convention would consider marriage equality in the near future.

He replied that the convention is due to send its report on the potential impact of marriage equality to the government this month, after which point parliament has four months to review the report.

"We have committed that we will make a decision within that four-month period on what would be our response to the Constitutional Convention," Gilmore said at Google's European headquarters in Dublin. "Then in the case of a referendum on same-sex marriage, it would then be an issue of when that takes place after that. suppose realistically we're probably looking at next year sometime."

Gilmore has previously gone on record with his support for marriage equality, calling the freedom to marry "the civil rights issue of this generation" at Dublin Pride last year.

The Independent also noted that the government's own constitutional think tank recently voted in favor of marriage equality by an overwhelming majority, lending the issue additional political relevancy. Read more here.