Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I bring this Topical Issue matter to the House because it is a good news story, but I also see it as a series of events in which we witnessed quite foul attacks on Pride over the past couple of weeks such as the burning of flags in Waterford and the painting of vile homophobic graffiti in Dublin city centre opposite a gay bar. I want to preface what I am going to say by stating categorically that I am not a Catholic, but I am an atheist and I give credit where credit is due.

Last week the parish council and the parish priest, Fr. Adrian Egan, of Our Lady of the Assumption church in Ballyfermot took a decision to fly the Pride flag, along with the Tricolour, outside of the church as a gesture of inclusivity for our LGBTQ+ community in the area, and for young people in the parish in particular. Following complaints to the archdiocese and a social media campaign that in many ways was quite foul, the criticisms of the parish priest were too much even for me to bear. As I said, I give credit to the man and parish council where they deserve it. I recognise that everyone should be free to express his or her religion. I defend everybody's right to express their religion, but I also defend their right to express, within that religion, their sexual and personal identity. For some people, however, that was not enough.

A rosary style protest was staged last Saturday. Many of us were at an anti-racism event in town and were not aware of it. When I spoke to Fr. Adrian Egan, the parish priest, about this, he was quite upset about the pile-on he was getting on social media in response to this. I read some of it and it was quite shocking. It was quite shocking to the majority in our community. Therefore, we got together, under the Ballyfermot Anti-Racism Network, along with many other services, the network of the LGBTQ+ community in the area and young people, in particular, to decide on something very positive which will happen tomorrow night outside the church at the roundabout. We will join together to celebrate Pride and send a message that this is a community that celebrates diversity and not division.

This will be a big event. It will be supported by loads of people, even if they cannot make it. We want it to be socially distanced and for people to wear masks, but we want to be a celebration that will send a message to our young people, in particular, that they are included and welcome. In this current period of the 21st century this is hugely important. There was a discussion earlier about Viktor Orbán and the oppression of the LGBT community in Hungary in light of events around soccer matches. For us, Hungary has to be the canary in the coal mine for Europe not just in terms of marching against gay people but also the growth of the far right against immigrants and workers.

It is interesting to note that the cover that is often given, as the Minister knows only too well, is that gay people are somehow dangerous to children. It is also interesting to note that those who make that foul and despicable claim cannot stand over it. They used a noose outside the Dáil when a Bill on children's issues and the appointment of the Minister were being discussed. That behaviour says that they want to identify paedophiles with gay people but at the same time want to return to the dark days of the control of the Catholic Church where none of them blew the whistle on the abuse that happened at an institutional level over decades in this country.

This is something positive to celebrate in Ballyfermot. Pride is happening everywhere on Saturday. We are holding the event tomorrow evening and want to send out a very strong message of solidarity to all LGBTQ+ people, in particular young people who, during and post Covid, are struggling with mental health issues, their identity and where their future lies. I hope this sends a positive message across the gay community.

See this speech in context