Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

Committee for Finance, meeting on Wednesday, 27 May 2026


Members present for all or part of the proceedings:

Mr Matthew O'Toole (Chairperson)
Ms Diane Forsythe (Deputy Chairperson)
Miss Jemma Dolan
Miss Deirdre Hargey
Mr Harry Harvey
Mr Brian Kingston
Mr Eóin Tennyson

Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill

The Chairperson (Mr O'Toole): As before, Hansard will report this. They are not sitting here, but they will come back to us. I presume, with the volume of legislation that is going through, they probably have quite a lot of demands on their time.

The Committee Clerk: They review the video, Chair.

The Chairperson (Mr O'Toole): The meeting pack contains correspondence from Northern Ireland Humanists providing a briefing on the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill. There is a concern about the lack of criteria on what constitutes a genuine religious or humanist group. If members are agreed, we will get an oral briefing from NI Humanists.

Members indicated assent.

The Chairperson (Mr O'Toole): We will forward the briefing paper to the Department of Finance for comment on any points raised. OK, that is useful. Does anyone else want to come in on that? No? OK.

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