Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Coming just a year after the joyous scenes that followed the passage of the marriage equality referendum in this country, the appalling crimes carried out in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, late on Sunday night serve as a stark reminder to us all of the need to maintain a relentless focus on building equality for all people. These crimes must be condemned for what they were, namely, appalling hate crimes against LGBT people. Great progress has been made in recent decades in the western world as we have moved towards a vindication of full citizenship for all people but the horrific events of Saturday night remind us of the need to avoid complacency. Research in Ireland tells us that one third of LGBT people have been physically or sexually attacked and half have been harassed in the past five years. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these attacks go unreported. Only 17 homophobic incidents were registered on the Garda PULSE system in 2013. Now is therefore the time for the national LGBT strategy, which examines all the needs of this community in Ireland, from tackling hate crimes and workplace discrimination to meeting the needs of older LGBT people and continuing to reform our education system to stamp out discrimination at all levels. I hope the events of recent times will spur us to move with absolute determination on that agenda. On behalf of the Labour Party, I extend my sympathy and the solidarity of my party to all those affected by the weekend's events in Orlando.

I wish to raise two issues on the Order of Business. Earlier today, together with our spokesperson on the arts, Deputy Burton, I met a cross-representative group of the arts community, people who are working directly in the arts in Ireland, to discuss Culture 2025. We have had the opportunity to build on the legacy of decades of commemorations. We have the opportunity now to produce an enduring and a lasting roadmap to build and copper-fasten culture at the heart of everything we do. To make this a reality, I ask the Taoiseach to ensure that the draft Culture 2025 document be submitted, before it is adopted, to the joint Oireachtas committee so there can be buy-in by all parties and representatives in this House regarding that really important matter.

Like the Taoiseach, I will be travelling to the UK later this week to advocate that citizens in the UK with Irish connections vote to remain. We know, and I will not rehearse again, the importance of this issue for this country. However, I am growing more anxious. I see the opinion polls today and the endorsement of one of the major newspapers in the UK for a Brexit strategy. I, therefore, ask the Taoiseach to update the House or at least, maybe privately, leaders of groups on Cabinet thinking and the Government's preparedness should there be an unfortunate exit vote in the next ten days in the UK so that we can be assured that the interests of this country are fully and completely safeguarded whatever way the people of Britain vote.

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