Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has been a template for many of other countries to follow in how attitudes towards minority groups here have changed, particularly the LGBTQ+ community and the way in which we had a public conversation and citizen's assembly on the issue. We passed a referendum to change the status of same-sex marriage and so on. These are things a lot of other countries have taken a lead from. Ireland campaigns internationally in this space and it wants to protect minorities that are vulnerable and blatantly discriminated against, sometimes violently, in certain countries. We want to be and we are a voice for those minorities in other parts of the world where we need to ensure international law applies and discrimination is called out. That is why a special envoy in this space may have been helpful. Even in the absence of that, we have good ambassadors and strong Ministers in this space, as well as many NGOs.

See this speech in context