Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy appears to have some kind of obsession with the queen. If he had made contact with me in time, I might well have intervened in order to obtain an invitation for him.

Much of the debate centred around the Rory O'Neill affair. The House has had the opportunity to debate that matter on a number of occasions. I have put my views on the record on those occasions and I have also written articles on the question of homophobia and its treatment in the media. I do not propose to rehearse what has been said in this regard. However, I do propose to reassert what I said earlier about the Bill. I am greatly amused by Opposition colleagues who think that the word "offence" ought to be excised from our legislation in this area but who cannot remember that I drew a distinction between my convictions regarding the unsuitability of the Bill and the fact that I stated that if Deputy Donnelly wanted to initiate a debate on the issue, I would welcome that and would be happy to engage. It seems to be popular these days to make allegations about arrogance when people do not like the argument being put forward.

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