Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I wish our colleague, Senator Feargal Quinn, well. I understand today marks an important anniversary in that it is his 21st year in the Seanad. I know all of us will want to join in those good wishes to him.

I also support the call made by my colleague, Senator Averil Power, on Thursday for a debate in the wake of the reports of the RTE payout to the Iona Institute and other named individuals. I believe she was calling for a debate on free speech in light of that. I was delighted to attend, with Senator Power and Senator Norris, a protest on Sunday against censorship and homophobia, at which approximately 2,000 people attended. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, put out a very important and useful statement about this on Friday when he spoke of the need to ensure that recourse to defamation laws does not have a chilling effect on the conduct of public debate around LGBT rights, in particular in the context of the lead-up to the forthcoming referendum on marriage equality. It is important that any of those who hold themselves out as commentators on issues like this, including ourselves, would appreciate that debate in this arena can be robust and, on occasion, hostile in a democracy, and we must be able to take that. What we have seen over recent days and what has generated great public concern has been the emergence of a sort of chilling effect through threats of libel in the course of the debate.

In that context, I also very much welcome that the European Parliament has today voted for an EU roadmap against homophobia and discrimination and is calling for an action plan to combat homophobia along the lines of the strategies already in place for discrimination on the basis of disability, gender equality and Roma integration. I believe that recognises the very serious issue that homophobia remains for LGBT people throughout Europe, with people in many countries still experiencing unacceptable levels of harassment and discrimination. We need to remember that in the context of the debate we have been having here.