Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House, as always. I also thank her for welcoming the suicide policy document my party published last week and I hope we will have an opportunity to go through it with her in the coming weeks.

I welcome this legislation and while not wanting to take an adversarial position on the Order of Business this morning, I said that it was a shame that we could not have moved forward a year ago when Senator Averil Power proposed her own legislation on this issue. However, I appreciate that it is now happening and we have a Bill to debate. Senator Bacik said this morning that Senator Power's proposed legislation did not cover all nine areas of discrimination but that could have been dealt with quite easily by way of amendments on Second Stage. Just to reiterate what I said this morning, I regret that the set piece for Private Member's Bills from the Opposition is for the Government to say it has a better plan or a bill of its own in the pipeline which it will introduce later and celebrate as a success. Having said that, I thank Senator Bacik for acknowledging the work of Senator Averil Power in this regard. It would be good for democracy, albeit at the loss of positive optics for the Government, if occasionally in this House we could signal that good ideas can be celebrated and implemented by all sides, particularly when it is possible to improve such ideas on Committee Stage. We have had a lot of examples of this in recent years and indeed, the female genital mutilation legislation put forward by Senator Bacik in Private Member's time some years ago could have been implemented much faster had it been embraced by the then Government.

All people are equal but some are more equal than others. The heroes of society are many but with regard to this issue, one such hero is Senator David Norris, whose courageous move in the 1970s, culminating in his notable victory at the European Court of Human Rights in 1988, was the start of the process of stamping out discrimination in our society. That was welcome and this legislation is another cog in that wheel. However, the wheel is very large and there will always be discrimination and the challenge of stamping it out.

If a person is employed as a teacher, his or her favourite football team has as much relevance as the fact that he or she is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, a member of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael or whatever else. Having said that, it would seem at times in these Houses that being a member of Fianna Fáil is grounds for discrimination. In any event, this Bill is very positive in that regard and is to be welcomed.

As we move forward, there are other issues with which we must grapple, including the question of the enforcement of this legislation. That is key. I have no doubt that following the enactment of this legislation, following further refinement on Second Stage, the question of enforcement will prove difficult because people will decide, in a confidential and private way, that they would prefer to employ a person of type X or Y. That will happen on an ongoing basis. We need only look at the instances of discrimination against pregnant women and mothers, in particular, over the years to see how problematic enforcement can be. Often it is the detection of evidence of discrimination that is the problem, rather than the lack of anti-discrimination legislation. Following the enactment of this legislation, enforcement and providing protection for people will still be a challenge. The ultimate test will be whether we can come up with better detection methods and quicker enforcement mechanisms, rather than simply passing this legislation. It is only after the Bill is passed that the game really begins in terms of improving our society.

Some have argued that various churches suppressed good moves like this in the past, which may well be true, but as someone who is Christian and a Catholic, I am open-armed about the need for absolute equality and a policy of live and let live. People must be provided with the potential to be true to their traditions while allowing for full equality. Senator O'Keeffe has pointed out that we have white smoke in Rome, which I celebrate. As a Catholic person, I hope that the new Pope will recognise that the Catholic message is still one of the best in the world but needs to be brought out of the 1700s and into the 21st century. That would serve practising Catholics like myself well and would be of benefit to the church as a whole. It is unfounded and unnecessary fear within the establishment of various churches and other organisations that has led to discrimination and abuse and we must learn from that.

Once again, I commend my colleague, Senator Averil Power, for initiating this debate, as the Minister of State has acknowledged. I also commend Senator Bacik who, as a gifted legislator, has shown again today that we can make real progress in this House. I wish to seize this opportunity to impress on Senators from the Government parties the importance of them pointing out to their more senior colleagues the usefulness of this House and the fact that they should not be threatening to abolish it purely for electoral gain. Today's debate and this legislation is a good example of the merits of retaining this House.