Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

Pride is political and Pride is protest. It is a reminder of how far we have come but how far we have yet to go. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the marriage equality referendum but also the passage of the Gender Recognition Act. In that time, we have seen a deliberate and provocative attempt to marginalise, undermine and dehumanise trans people. As has been said by my colleagues, we have the worst system of trans healthcare in Europe. People have come to me and told me that the wait time is 13 years at the moment, and there are 2,000 people waiting for care.

The fact of the matter is the Government is not following the World Health Organization's guidelines regarding trans healthcare. We need to move to a model of informed consent. That is the way we deal with other gender-related healthcare such as HRT. The fact is that, in this country, we force trans people to go through a dehumanising and humiliating process.

I want to speak about the need for much stronger hate speech law. We need the Government to clarify its position because there is a gulf between, say, the lack of legislative action and the stated commitments in both the national LGBTQI+ strategy and the programme for Government. We need to see a full assessment of the legal gaps and the Government's response to the concerns raised by the European Commission and a legislative roadmap thereafter.

In the time remaining to me, I will speak to an issue that is close to my own area of Limerick. Limerick Pride, QuareClare and The Outing have been shortlisted to host the 2028 EuroPride. This is a pan-European event hosted by a different European city every year. If this was to come to Limerick and the mid-west, what a testament it would be to the progress made in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Imagine, the year after the Ryder Cup, if we hosted another landmark event that could bring 100,000 people to Limerick and Clare. It would be transformative for the mid-west culturally and economically. I am looking for the Government and the Minister of State to place their support for this bid on the record of the House.

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