Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The 25th anniversary of decriminalisation will be marked on 24 June. We are working on a motion, which I hope all parties can agree, to recognise the wrongs that were done. There is a complication in that it is not always possible to distinguish one conviction from another. In some cases, the convictions involve minors and it is not necessarily possible in all cases to distinguish whether the offence involved a minor, a point that makes things a little trickier in Ireland for reasons Deputy Micheál Martin will understand. It is our intention to have an all-party motion in the spirit mentioned by the Deputy. Senator Nash is leading on this in the Seanad, along with Senator Buttimer and others. We also intend to have a Government event, yet to be organised or arranged, to mark decriminalisation 25 years ago. I would like to reach out to Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and ask her to take part in that because she was the line Minister who brought in the reform at the time and she deserves credit for it.

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