Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

It implies that this Bill will be dealt with in six months' time. It represents a complete failure of political courage. The Progressive Democrats Party once had a proud liberal tradition and we often heard fine speeches in the past on its liberal credentials. However, it seems to have completely subsumed itself into Fianna Fáil on these issues.

Fianna Fáil also seems to have squeezed out anybody who had a bit of political courage on such issues. I am particularly thinking of the former Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who had the courage in 1993 to take a step forward on this issue, when Fianna Fáil was in Government with the Labour Party. Since my party has been out of power, virtually nothing has been done on the equality agenda. The Minister who has just arrived in the House is the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. However, he rarely describes himself as such. He is now described as the Minister for Justice by the media, as if equality and law reform simply did not exist. In effect, it does not exist for this Government and it is about time it was put back on the political agenda. That is what the Labour Party is seeking to do tonight.

I am extremely disappointed that the Government has not accepted the Bill. If the Minister and his colleagues have problems with aspects of it, there is full provision to amend the Bill on Committee Stage and on Report Stage. We do not claim to have all the wisdom on this issue, but we would like to see progress. The Colley committee made these recommendations and drew a distinction between marriage in the Constitution and the kind of civil rights we are proposing to provide this evening. This matter of civil rights is a core issue for the Labour Party, because we believe in a rights-based agenda. We believe in policies and in legislation that are about equal rights for citizens. Gay and lesbian people do not have equal civil rights when it comes to taxation, social welfare, inheritance and sensitive areas such as health. We are trying to put these rights on the Statute Book this evening.

I would like to refer to our colleague in the Seanad, Senator Norris. I am a member of the all-party committee on the Constitution. Senator Norris came to that committee and presented his own legislative proposals. He addressed the committee, which contains representatives of the Government parties, and there was a general view held by committee members that we should forward the agenda of equal civil rights for gay people. That appeared to be the position of the Government parties, as the committee is chaired by a Fianna Fáil Deputy. Yet the Government cannot come into this House tonight and provide for those civil rights.

We had an argument before about divorce and the tiny majority that passed the referendum. However, it was accepted into the normal legislative proceedings. It did not damage marriage and did not harm people who did not need or want divorce. I have no doubt that if the Government were to sign our Bill into law, it would make no material difference to marriage in this State.

This is simply a failure of political courage and a failure to address these important human rights issues. They need to be addressed urgently because this agenda is being put on the back burner until the after the general election. That means that it will take some time to bring this issue forward. The Government could allow this Bill to proceed to Committee Stage. It could allow a full debate on the Bill in this House and in the Seanad. It could enact the Bill so that all citizens in this State could have equal rights.

This Bill is about legal rights, but it is also about the culture of our country and how accepting and all-embracing we are of all our citizens. There have been some awful incidents of homophobic bullying in schools and in other places. If we fudge issues of this nature, we will make it more difficult to protect people from such activity. The message we will send out will be that we are not yet prepared to embrace equality for all our citizens in this area. I am very proud tonight to be part of the Labour Party, which is proposing this legislation. I find it shameful that the Government is not willing to allow the Bill a Second Reading.

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