Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, his officials and the officials from other Departments. It is always good to have engagement between the Stages of legislation and I acknowledge that it occurred. I particularly thank the individuals and organisations that are directly affected and concerned by this Bill. I spoke on Committee Stage about the privilege of being a Senator because one gets a particular insight. I hope some of the debates we have had in the House will filter out and achieve a ripple effect.

I have a clear message for the Lower House. I am very supportive of the Bill, but I would have liked it to go further. That is where my hesitancy lies. I am one of life's optimists and I always try to see how we can move forward in life's offices. Part of me believes we have now started a relay race and the first baton has been grasped firmly. The Bill is here. There are three further parts of the relay. We still have to recognise children's rights, remove the medicalising of gender identity and remove the enforcing of divorces. However, the race has started and we are firmly in the field. That is good work today. I would have liked if we could have won the race and celebrated, but we are on the right track. For me, that is a good start. People had to fight for many years to get the starter gun to go, so at least we are in that process now.

The optimist in me accepts that this is where we are, and the Seanad has outlined where we must go. We must talk to people and explain why we feel so passionately about this. However, I thank the Minister of State for his work on the Bill.