David Norris (Independent)

-----and for Catholic emancipation. I hope this kind of spirit will continue in this Upper House. I would be very concerned about this. I would like a full debate on it. The Seanad must be considered in it, otherwise it is not worth a damn.

I welcome very much what Senator Bacik said about the international day on homophobia. It is in danger of being overlooked. Regrettably in the Minister's contribution on the day, which was very well intentioned, it was subsumed into the general area of bullying. Bullying is very important as a general subject but there is a specific issue here in light of the extraordinary degree of homophobia that still continues to prevail in this country and within all the churches, including my own.