There were mixed views among delegates at the Fianna Fáil ardfheis on the party's support for the marriage equality referendum.

Opening the debate, party justice spokesman Niall Collins said, for him, it was an issue of equality.

“We are a progressive republican party with a long, proud and progressive track record in promoting equality,” he added.

Mr Collins was followed by other speakers advocating a Yes vote, including former minister Pat Carey who recently revealed he was a gay man.

Mr Carey said he was not somebody who made rash decisions.

“It took me all of 65 and-a-bit years to summon up the courage and the confidence to talk about my own sexuality,” he added.

Meath delegate Austin O’Driscoll claimed the debate had been “weighted from the top table”. He believed, he said, a child had a right to a father and mother and to grow up and mature in their presence.

He said “very powerful groups” were attempting to bring about social change in this area. He said he wanted to be compassionate but also have his opinion respected.

Senator Averil Power said the panel of speakers chosen were in favour of a Yes vote because delegates had agreed to support marriage equality at a previous ardfheis.

Another speaker opposed to the referendum warned the party would “lose seriously-minded Christians”. He claimed Fianna Fáil was being dictated to by “global corporations in the IT industry” and by Twitter.

Emma Murphy, Dublin, said as a gay person she had observed her father, a typical Dubliner, challenging the views of the No campaign.

He had said, she added, that he had not raised any second-class citizens among his six children, adding that, unlike his other five children, his daughter could not marry.

“That is why my father will go out and canvass his friends, colleagues and family,” she added.