Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Ministers agus a chairde go léir, it is an honour to stand before you today as an ally and a proud supporter of the LGBTQI+ community. Over the month of June, we celebrated Pride around the country and around the world. Pride is a powerful expression of identity, resilience and love. I had the pleasure of walking in the 2025 Dublin Pride Parade alongside the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, as well as attending the Pride parade in my hometown of Westport. I really can attest to this expression. However, we must remember Pride is not just simply a parade; it is also a protest, a history and a journey. It serves as a reminder of how far we have come but also of the hard truth that progress, particularly continued progress, is never guaranteed. In Ireland, that journey to progress has been both painful and profound.

One of the most poignant stories in the history of LGBTQI+ rights in this country is that of Declan Flynn. Declan was killed in Fairview Park in Dublin in 1982 by a group who were all part of "the team to get rid of queers in Fairview Park". His death coincided with a series of beatings that were being dished out to gay men in Fairview Park at the time. His killers were not jailed, with the group given suspended sentences for manslaughter. This drew surprise and concern from many people across the country. The response to the verdict was the largest gay rights demonstration that had ever been seen in Ireland. It was a defiant show of strength in the deeply conservative Ireland of the time. That June, the first gay pride march would take place in Dublin. Many regard the sad case of Declan Flynn as the catalyst for the Pride movement in Ireland.

It is in our living memory that simply being gay in this country was a crime. Silence and stigma loomed over Ireland until 1993, when homosexuality was finally decriminalised. This was a change driven by people who fought relentlessly - often against the tide - for equality. From that moment, we saw massive changes. The year 2010 saw the introduction of civil partnerships and 2015 saw the historic moment as Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular referendum. As we celebrate that decade, I congratulate the almost 80 couples in my home county who got married. We also saw the Gender Recognition Act coming into force in 2015. That legislation allows transgender people to have their gender recognised by the State. While this was a step in the right direction, we must continue to be aware that the journey for true equality for trans people is far from over.

These are just three examples of the progress that has been made in Ireland, but Pride also serves as a reminder of the work we still have to do. We have LGBTQI+ youths who are growing up in fear in this country. There are trans people who are waiting years to access healthcare in this country. We know of many attacks on the community in the context of a landscape at the moment that too often provides a platform for hate. Rights for the LGBTQI+ community are under attack, with 676 hate crimes and hate-related incidents reported to An Garda Síochána in 2024. That was an increase on the previous year. Research published by Trinity College Dublin and BelonG To, namely Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland 2024, found that 45% of the community in Ireland feel unsafe holding hands with a same-sex partner in public and that over half of trans and non-binary people feel unsafe expressing their gender identity in public. The research further found that one in four members of Ireland's LGBTQI+ community have been punched, hit or physically attacked just as a result of their identity. A 2024 report, LGBTIQ equality at a crossroads: progress and challenges, by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that more than one in three faced discrimination in their daily life because of who they are and more than one in two were victims of hate-motivated harassment.

I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to improve and protect the rights of the community in Ireland. In recognising the threat to the community here compared with other jurisdictions, we must continue to make progress for this community. I support the implementation of the national LGBTQI+ inclusion strategy, which focuses on safety, health and well-being, participation and inclusion, equality and non-discrimination and which also includes those online. I also note the commitment to improving access to health services for LGBTQI+ people. Importantly, I really welcome plans to advance legislation to ban conversion practices and look forward to going through this at the Joint Committee on Children and Equality, which I chair.

Ireland is a country that voted for love. We were the first to legalise it by popular vote. It is a country where community matters. This does not happen by chance; it happens because people speak out and do the hard work necessary to build a more equal society, whether that is in Fairview Park in Dublin or Stonewall in New York where suits of equality were led by the bravest of individuals who refused to be silenced in the face of injustice. That is the legacy that is ours to carry on. Now is not the time to roll back rights for LGBTQI+ people. It is not the time for rights to retreat. We are seeing instances of this rollback in Ireland from people who wish to frame inclusion as a threat and treat difference as a danger. Now is the time that all of us who are allies of the LGBTQI+ community must be loud in our support. Pride remains a political act. It demands bravery, not only from those in the community but also from those of us who are allies.

As I said at the beginning of my address, I had the pleasure of walking in the Dublin Pride Parade in June. My support should not and will not end there, however. It will continue for the other 364 days of the year as a TD, as chair of the children and equality committee, and, more importantly, as an ally of the LGBTQI+ community. I want to make it clear that I will call out and challenge hate wherever it happens, in public or political discourse in media and in our communities. I will continue to push for protections against hate crimes and hate speech. I will continue to push for inclusivity in our schools, healthcare and communities, because every person has the right to live free from fear. While those of us here today in this Chamber may hold different views on various things, it is my hope that we can be united on this, namely that the politics of hate have no place in Dáil Éireann or in our constituencies or communities.

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