David Norris (Independent)

The Senator is welcome to those 200. I hope they take some of the creatures that we see in here sometimes; they will be grand down in Roscrea. In fact, the Senator can have the whole damn lot of them if he wants them. That the authority is being decentralised to Roscrea while the Department is largely staying here is significant. It is being taken away from the area where it fits in organically.

The authority did very good work with the report on equality for gay people. The gay person on it has been replaced by a Progressive Democrats candidate in the local elections who interrupted a question to another candidate on "The Late Late Show" to say that he could not possibly countenance the recognition of domestic partnerships, something to which the majority of parties in this State are committed. What are they at, and why are they undermining this very important agency? Is it lack of finance? Does the Minister know? Why is it taking on no new cases?

The Equality Authority was a marvellous thing. It was ahead of the rest of Europe and something of which we could be proud. I am very much afraid that, masked by decentralisation, this very important agency which gave hope to downtrodden groups will itself be marginalised and ultimately extinguished. I hope the Minister will be able to reassure me, either in writing or in some other way, that this Equality Authority is not being deliberately destroyed, because that is what it looks like to me and many people whom I represent, by no means all of them gay. That is also how it looks to many people in the Equality Authority, and I feel it appropriate to signal that in this House tonight.