Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

I second the proposal and I am proud to do so. I commend my colleague, Senator Averil Power, on her work on the legislation and her ongoing commitment to the general area. I also commend her on her courage because sadly one still needs courage to bring forward legislation in this general area. We have made great progress but prejudice still exists. I echo her call to deal with the issue and that the Government side should accept the Bill by consensus from a non-confrontational and non-party viewpoint. As no amendments have been tabled I hope that the Minister will accept the entire Bill. It would be a wise decision for the Government because Senator Power's view is in line with its policy as enunciated by several Ministers from the two main parties in government. My party is often seen by liberals as not being so liberal but the facts prove otherwise. Fianna Fáil has a proud record of producing sex equality legislation from the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, the 1993 homosexuality discrimination Bill, the Equal Status Act 2000 and the 2012 civil partnership Bill. All of these prove that my party is forward thinking and conscious of the needs of minorities in every walk of life.

Senator Power has highlighted that there are certain exemptions from the Equality Act in certain religious, educational and medical institutions. As she has made clear and I reiterate, we believe that such institutions are entitled to uphold their particular ethos, be it Catholic, Protestant or whatever. We also believe that these institutions are entitled to expect their employees to do their utmost to uphold the ethos in that institution and that employees have a responsibility not to subvert the ethos. However, we equally contend and affirm the rights of individuals not to be discriminated against with regard to their right to be employed on their merits only and to be free from any and all obstacles on the grounds of sexual orientation. In the real world, as a parent and former teacher, parents have only one question for the teachers in their schools and in the doctors in their hospitals. Are they efficient and good at their job? Parents are not interested in anything to do with their private lives.

I also commend the teacher unions and the medical sector for their full support for gay and lesbian employees and colleagues. This year I attended the INTO conference in Killarney and I was delighted to hear such strong support for this issues expressed by its CEO, who is in the visitors' Gallery, and by her executive and members. I commend the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, who attended the conference as guest of honour and in his speech he picked up positively on those points. I am interested to hear his comments on the Bill when he speaks on Second Stage.

We continue to evolve as a caring society even though prejudices still exist. The workplace is now a much less threatening environment for minorities and the sexual bullying of teachers, nurses or doctors will not be tolerated in 2012. We have come a long way from the appalling Flynn case in Wexford many years ago when a teacher was forced out of a school simply because she was having a relationship that was not sanctified by marriage. It was a humiliating case for Ms Flynn and for all right thinking people at the time. Thankfully, we seem to have come a long way. Again, as Senator Power has said, we have the story in the mid-west of a teenage mum that I am not informed enough about to comment on other than to say that it is deeply troubling and something we must be conscious of.

To conclude, I hope that the Government will examine the legislation in a holistic and non-political way. The Senator has gone out of her way to show that the legislation is not a point scoring exercise for our party. It is just another step in a long difficult road to gain equality for everyone on the island, equality that was promised in the 1916 Proclamation.