Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to be present with my Labour Party colleagues to support this Bill. We often thank people as a tradition of the House but this is a day to say "Thank you" to many people. I thank the Minister for Education and Skills for his efforts and his support in this area and Neil Ward in his office for helping to draft the legislation. I also thank Senators Bacik and Moran for leading the debate on our behalf and to my Labour Party colleagues in the other House for coming together to bring this Bill before us. I thank the Minister of State for her efforts 17 years ago and in the interim and her promise of white smoke whereby the Bill will not only be accepted in spirit but will become a Government Bill. I hope we can look forward to Committee Stage sooner rather than later. I would finally like to thank those in the Visitors Gallery, the groups they represent and the many people who have expressed concern about these difficulties for such a long time and who were voices by themselves, very often taking unpopular stands, for persevering and for being with us this evening.

When we legislate, we show we are leading because we are laying down a marker for the kind of society we want and I hope we can keep building and changing. We cannot, as a Legislature, stamp out discrimination but we can show that this is what we want and that we are here saying discrimination is not something we support anymore. The notion that workers, particularly teachers and those working in hospitals, who are different from their colleagues are not equal is clearly something we do not want in this society. We are leading today. To those who often say as they sit in bars or in taxis that nothing has changed in Ireland and the Government has not done anything in office, I have pointed out several times in the House over the past year that we are changing and we are recognising issues and moving on them. We are beginning to grow up and we are saying we will not accept discrimination anymore. At one time, female civil servants gave up their jobs when they married while other women were locked up for having children who were then taken from them because they were not married. We have experienced this discrimination but we have moved on and we are moving on again this evening.

I am delighted other Members have said provisions in the legislation should be debated on Committee Stage and the Bill needs to be strengthened in some regards. I share a number of the concerns eloquently raised by Senator Zappone but this is a good day because we are marking the start of that process. Others referred to the chilling effect but we are beginning to feel the warmth and to understand that, together, we can address that and take away the coldness that has been there. I thank Senator Power for her work last year and I am delighted that she has contributed to the debate and will continue to do so because it is an issue she holds dear. In memory of Eileen Flynn and all the others who were never named, we are here to change and I look forward to further debate on this legislation on Committee Stage.