David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Senator Averil Power on her pioneering role in this area and, most particularly, Senators Bacik and Moran on bringing this legislation in such a clear and articulate form before the House. I also commend colleagues who have spoken and I am sure we will hear further excellent speeches on the Bill. It shows the significance and importance of this House that we can deal with issues such as this in a calm and rational manner on a cross-party basis. This feature of Seanad Éireann became clear to me when, at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, the House held a discussion on what was then a troubled subject that the Dáil was afraid to touch. It was also in this House that moves were first made towards the enactment of civil partnership legislation.

There are times when I feel a little like a coelacanth, that wonderful fish related to the diplodocus and other ancient creatures, which everybody believed was extinct and only to be found in fossils before it surfaced. I have lived through so much and made the transition from being a criminal for most of my life to being a perfectly ordinary, accepted and banal member of the community, which is what I always wanted to be.

I remember very well the Eileen Flynn case, which was extraordinarily shocking for a number of reasons. Foremost of these was the failure of those involved to ask the appropriate questions, for example, whether Ms Flynn was a good mother and teacher. They were obsessed instead by the fact that she had a child outside marriage. It is notable that the case took place in the diocese of Ferns and we all have a good idea about what was the ethos of that diocese.