Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 17 be taken before No.1. The purpose of this is to seek the leave of the House to have my Bill, Stem-Cell Research (Protection of Human Embryos) Bill 2008, introduced and prepared for debate. The Bill's purpose is to prohibit the creation of human embryos for research, to prohibit all research involving or deriving from the destruction of human embryos and to provide for related matters. It is limited in its scope and does not deal with reproductive matters.

I believe I enjoy the support of the House when I say that it is very important when we debate these issues, I hope on Private Members' business next Wednesday, that we approach them with a deep respect for the views of others, especially those which differ from ours. These are profound matters relating to when life begins and so forth. The word used by my colleague Senator Bacik yesterday, "fetish", and this type of language serves to demonise others. I hope we will not have that tone in the debate and I will certainly not be employing it. I hope to deal with the arguments of others and allay any concerns they have. I will be open for suggestions for amendments. I hope none of us will be demonised for our points of view.

I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for and would welcome a debate on equality. I, too, have been lobbied about funding for the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority. There is great value to the work done by the commission and I would be sorry to see it lose funding. Our debate on equality should be a nuanced one. Areas for abuse can arise in the way equality as a concept gets exploited by groups which seek further particular agendas as if they only reflected the only true interpretation of what equality requires in a given situation. I hope the debate will be generous, champions an authentic notion of equality and is interested in hearing the critique and praise due to people who work to further equality principles in our society.