Results 1-20 of 1,069,519 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' speaker:Marian Harkin

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: These statements are very welcome. I thank the Deputy who raised this from the floor because there had been no statements until this. The reason it is important is that it is very clear that despite the massive rights and wonderful gains that were won for LGBT+ people ten years ago and women in terms of repeal, we are in a different era now. We are in a different space It was very...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Cathal Crowe: I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Fianna Fáil is very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Back in 1993, it was then Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who led the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It is hard to believe that at that time, it was still illegal. I was someone born in 1982 and throughout my secondary school years, the standard insult in...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Malcolm Byrne: Like others, I thank the Ministers of State for being here for this very important debate and discussion. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, will forgive me if I single out the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who has been a champion of the LGBT community, particularly now on trans healthcare. I am very proud to count her as a friend. On this issue in particular, she has spoken out...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Ann Graves: Pride, as we know, has grown from being a small gathering in Dublin to a nationwide celebration of inclusion. It is a time when cities and towns across the island of Ireland take out the rainbow flag and welcome the progress made by the LGBTQI+ community in recent years. It is important that we recognise and celebrate the progress made but still we have more to do and we have to be...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am grateful to be able to wake up every morning beside the man I love, a man I am able to call my husband because of a decision of the Irish people, and we are able to enjoy wide-ranging protections across a whole raft of law and policy in our own country. I am grateful but I do not take it for granted because even though we have seen protections extended, gays and lesbians around the...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Sinéad Gibney: I wish a happy Pride to everybody who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning or intersex and anybody who has diverse ranges of sexual identity, gender expression, gender identity and sex characteristics. I would like to focus my comments on one particular community within that, and that is the trans community. I missed the Minister of State's speech but I will look back...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Barry Ward: I am very proud of what we have done as a country. That is not politics; that is people. When we look back ten years to what was done in this jurisdiction as regards the referendum on marriage equality, we have a basis on which to be proud for the fact that we recognised at that time that love is love and that equality of access to marriage was hugely important for everyone. I was part, as...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Mark Wall: Hear, hear.

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Pádraig O'Sullivan: Well done to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Thank you.

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: As the Minister of State knows, Pride is a protest. In recent years, we have seen companies and large multinationals join Pride. In many ways, that has been welcome and positive for those who work in those companies. It sends out a positive message that they are accepted and recognised as a part of these companies, and that their workplaces are safe. That is a good thing for those people....

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on her speech, for her allyship and for speaking out. I know it is not easy. She has our full support. We hope to work together to progress trans healthcare and the Minister of State has the support of many of us across the House. I look forward to working with her to progress that. I thank her for her allyship and her words. They matter...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Aidan Farrelly: I thank the Minister and the Ministers of State for the opportunity to speak on this issue this evening. In doing so, as a very proud dad and youth worker, I want to maintain my focus this evening on the young people of Ireland. Professional youth workers in Ireland are doing a phenomenal job in working with young LGBTQI+ people to ensure they have a safe space to learn, share experiences,...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Marie Sherlock: There is much to be proud of and celebrate in the ten years since the passing of the marriage equality referendum and the Gender Recognition Act 2015, but it is incumbent on us to call out and name the lived reality of so many of our friends in the LGBTQ+ community. It is terrifying to see the very real mental health crisis happening at the moment. My colleagues and others referred to the...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Mary Butler: As we recognise Pride week here in Dáil Éireann, I am deeply honoured to stand before Members, not just as Minister of State for mental health and the Government Chief Whip, but as a proud mother, ally and advocate for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in Irish life. I am especially proud of who I am and who my family is. My son is a transgender young man, and seeing him grow...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Conor McGuinness: Pride is about equality, solidarity and community and as an Irish republican, these principles are fundamental to me. I am very proud to stand here as an ally. Pride is also about love, acceptance and the joy of acknowledging and celebrating every person's authentic self. Tá cearta agus comhionannas ríthábhachtach ach tá sé chomh tábhachtach céanna go...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Mark Wall: I start by welcoming two very good friends of mine, Jacinta and Geraldine, who are visiting the House today in the week they celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. I also welcome friends from our own Labour Party LGBTQI group, who are with us in the Public Gallery this evening as well. In many regards, Ireland has led the way to social progress for members of the LGBTQI+ community....

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Duncan Smith: Speaking to members of the community who were around in the first Pride and subsequent Prides, the movement was rooted in protest, demonstration and anger. We are here tonight in that spirit with regard to transgender healthcare. I want to read two things. My colleague, Deputy Wall, referred to how we were bottom of the list in Europe with regard to transgender healthcare. In the 2020...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Conor Sheehan: 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...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute to these statements on Pride. I am proud to be an ally of the LGBTQI+ community. I am glad that in voting for marriage equality ten years ago, we did not just stop at that point and say "Job done". It is important that we continue the conversation and face head on the challenges that remain for those in the LGBTQI+ community. The...

Pride: Statements (16 Jul 2025)

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh: We can measure the success of any society's progress on welfare, well-being and inclusion by looking at how it treats its most marginalised groups. We are failing our most vulnerable miserably here in Ireland. Last night, we heard no shortage of horror stories about women suffering as a result of poor treatment for endometriosis in this State, with an average wait of nine years for a...