Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin is withdrawing its amendment. Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún tábhachtach agus stairiúil seo. Cuireann sé éagóir mhór i gceart a rinne damáiste dochreidte do dhaoine agus a rinne coirpigh de dhaoine nach raibh faic as an tslí déanta acu. Homosexuality was decriminalised in the State on 24 June 1993. The move to make homosexual acts no longer illegal followed a 16 year long legal battle which began in 1977, when Senator David Norris began a case against Ireland's draconian laws. In 1988, he succeeded in the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, on this case. I acknowledge the work and campaigning of Senator Norris and also the other men who took the case with him. I also acknowledge Belfast city councillor, Jeffrey Dudgeon, who took an equivalent case in the North, and the Minister of the day who brought forward the legislation, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. That was done in a context where the homophobic murder of Declan Flynn in 1982, a catalyst for Ireland's Pride movement, was in recent memory, and where due to institutional conservatism the State failed to meet the healthcare needs of the LGBTI community. The apology follows progressive moves in Britain and the North to enact what has been dubbed Turing's Law, which pardoned more than 49,000 men convicted under anti-homosexuality laws. It was aptly named after Alan Turing, the mathematician who was criminalised and chemically castrated for being a homosexual man. He committed suicide two years after his conviction.

Decriminalisation was a watershed moment in Irish history and allowed the LGBTI community to be more open and public where previously it was harassed and criminalised by the State. An apology for the overall treatment towards the LGBTI community is most welcome and it vindicates those members of the community who were told that on every moral level of society their identities were something that was wrong and of which they should be ashamed. The apology to them is well deserved, as it is to those who had their lives irreparably damaged and violence visited upon them by individuals and the State. It is more than appropriate that the State should apologise for that and for the fact that it mistreated the LGBTI community historically.

The motion condemns this law to the history books, not as the shame of gay and bisexual men but as the shame of the State. Those same men should have a clean record when asked and should not be obliged to disclose intimate details of their lives so that, in future, gay and bisexual men can live freer of State discrimination. We believe the State should also commit to implementing hate crime legislation and a ban on so-called conversion therapies to protect the LGBTI community into the future. Actions should follow the very genuine sentiment of this apology.

Sinn Féin had tabled an amendment, which we will not press, for the consideration of the Government. We will not ask the House to divide on the issue. We want the Government, however, to give consideration to the matters raised. Lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons were persecuted by the laws also. While indirectly affected, for many others the law sent a message of institutional discrimination that drove the LGBTI community underground, stigmatised its members and facilitated abuse in numerous ways.

The second element of the proposed amendment seeks that the Government would establish a scheme whereby persons convicted under anti-homosexuality laws would be granted a pardon that expunges all convictions of that nature and enables all documentation carrying such a conviction to be corrected. The motion's objective is a State apology towards those so convicted and we very much welcome it. Homosexuality was only decriminalised 25 years ago, however, and there are still many in society who hold conviction records due to those laws. That is the reason we call for exoneration also. Those men deserve a clean slate and history should be corrected.

The State's apology follows a move in Britain whereby men convicted under those laws are in a position to apply for a pardon from the Home Office. The Taoiseach said the State does not have a system of criminal exoneration or pardon and that such an approach might be difficult due to third party involvement in the offence. While I accept that, it is our opinion that such an approach could be introduced on a case-by-case basis. Court records could be investigated and the Government should take such an approach. Those who were convicted deserve vindication from the State harassment they received.

In the spirit of the apology, it should be met with action, and I call on the Government to implement future protections for the LGBTI community. The State is the only western European jurisdiction without hate crime legislation. We also believe there is a need for a ban on conversion therapies.

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