Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom were recognised that day. Same-sex marriage continues to be unrecognised in Northern Ireland, following several votes against it and one vote in favour of it by the Northern Ireland Assembly. Same-sex marriages are recognised as civil partnerships. Legislation to allow for the recognition of same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland has been debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly five times since 2012. On four of those occasions, only a minority of assembly members voted in favour of same-sex marriage, though the most recent vote on the issue in November 2015 saw a majority of MLA's vote in favour of same-sex marriage.
Blasphemy law in the Republic of Ireland make presentations at the meeting. There were expert presentations from university academics Neville Cox, Eoin O'Dell, and Maeve Cooke; the Knights of Saint Columbanus, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, and an NUIG PhD student argued in favour of retention; while Atheist Ireland, the Humanist Association of Ireland, and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties argued for its removal. Convention members voted 61–38 against retaining the existing Constitutional prohibition of blasphemy; 53–38 in favour of replacing it with a prohibition of "incitement to religious hatred"; and 50–49 against having a statutory prohibition of blasphemy. If a statutory prohibition were used,