Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I acknowledge the important points he has made. B'fhéidir nach n-aontaím le gach rud atá ráite aige, ach tuigim an tábhacht a bhaineann le mór-chuid dá bhfocail. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go bhfuil sé sin ráite againn anocht. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. These issues are important. When I first came to Dublin I did not understand the issues of equality and homophobia because rightly or wrongly I was reared in a society in Dingle where neither of them existed. There may have been the odd schoolboy jokes about it. I thought men and women were equal, because they were definitely equal where I was reared in Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis, An Daingean. If people were gay and seen to be slightly different that was an accepted thing in society, no more than people with difficulties who might be different for other reasons were also accepted. That was the kind of community in which I grew up. When I was elected to this House initially, for the first five years I shared my office with the only acknowledged gay parliamentarian in the country. I saw the pain he went through in terms of hate mail and other nastiness. I made a certain commitment to myself then, which was not a difficult thing to do, that I would always support any gay rights issues that he put forward and I think I have done that.