Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to know where to start. I agree with much of what Senator Mullen said and with what Senator Zappone said. However, in all of this we need to be very mindful of the level of intolerance that there is among the gay ideological movement. I have used that phrase before and I have been criticised for it. Yet, this is all about ideology. I separate the case for individual gay people in loving relationships; they are deserving of every respect for that. However, now we are changing marriage and we are doing it without giving any consideration to the consequences of that for marriage.

I come from the perspective that children should be the main focus in all these issues. Adults, be they heterosexual, gay or whatever, are well able to look after themselves. There is a plethora of NGOs that cater for all sorts of adult interests, many of them extremely well funded and very professional in the manner in which they go about their business. There are very few, if any, that really champion the cause of children. I challenge those who might refute that by saying that the silence of all those NGOs when we were debating in this House the most fundamental of all rights, the right to life, spoke volumes and still does.

I have tried to get Members of this House and others to support me in an all-party proposal that we will put condemning out of hand the issue of gendercide. However, I cannot do it. People who see themselves as champions of women's rights cannot support a motion that would outlaw and condemn an issue that is most diminutive of the status of women. That is that young babies in their mother's wombs are being killed for the reason that they are female. I think it is appalling and yet we cannot get consensus on that. People get caught up in all this ideology and we need to strip it all aside. We need to come back to being a tolerant and respectful society.

I know many people who are gay. I have the utmost admiration for them - they are brilliant people. Senator Zappone and her partner would be two of them. However, society needs to look at what is happening in all of this. I have been the victim of the intolerance coming from the other side. In my home town posters were placed stating "homophobic bigot" and "misogynistic bigot". I have been very consistent on this topic for at least the past decade and before, but primarily for the past decade because we have had many debates in this House on it. I have been consistent in what I have had to say and I have not changed my views on it. Primarily they are driven by what I see as being in the best interests of children. There is cause for reflection here. A case such as that relating to Ashers Baking Company, which is due to be decided upon this week, should surely encourage those in government to stop and think about the conscience implications of redefining marriage. There have been many cases where individuals who have a genuine and conscientious objection to changing and redefining marriage - or who express any interest in the protection of children - have attracted a great deal of abuse and criticism and, in certain instances, even worse. I refer, for example, to Brendan Eich, who was obliged to resign from his position as CEO of Mozilla-----