Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The fact is that those particularly conservative views that were imposed on our society for decades are now being openly challenged. That does not amount to persecution but it amounts to valid criticism. I urge both sides of the debate to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion and not to lose the goodwill of the citizens and voters of the middle ground.

Most amazing of all in this episode was the other conservative protagonist in the Pantigate controversy who also has a weekly column in a national broadsheet and is frequently on the airwaves. The gentleman gave an interview to the UCD student newspaper in 2012 which was reproduced with audio and a transcript on Broadsheet.ie. Senator Power has alluded to part of the interview. I urge all Senators to read or listen to the interview.

Is it right that the national broadcaster who we depend on to strike a balance in public discourse is forced to pay out to conservative columnists who invited debate on the issue through their columns? RTE must have a robust attitude to debate and if the legislation needs to be strengthened then I urge the Minister to examine the matter. Does the Minister know whether RTE carried out the most basic of research before paying out a considerable sum of taxpayers' money? I shall close my remarks by quoting a speech that some of our more conservative commentators should listen to:

We sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse. They behave as though at the time of former councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian idea and life and for proper religious liberty. We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world was at hand.

That is a speech that Pope John XXIII made just prior to his election to the papacy.