David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On my way in to the Chamber I was confronted by a protestor, which is perfectly legitimate, who held a placard stating, "Children have rights". It was about the marriage equality referendum. I would agree that children have rights. They have the right not to be treated as shuttlecocks in a political dispute, and this is what is happening. They talk about children having a right to a father and mother. Every child has a father and mother. Some 33% of births in the State are outside marriage. These are to single women. I doubt these people propose going back to the old days in which their views reigned and the children of single parents were wrenched from them and put into institutions where they were brutalised or exported to Australia or America. That leaves one possibility only, that they are attacking people because they are gay. That is the only reason. We must confront this kind of prejudice and the presentation of an absolute and perfect ideal of heterosexual marriage.

Marriage is a wonderful institution, but it is a human institution. It has changed since its inception. It only became a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church in the middle of the 16th century, that is, three quarters of the way through the history of Christianity. It was incorporated into British law in the middle of the 18th century, which is not that long ago either. People were forbidden to marry black people. Jewish people who marry outside their religion are expelled from it. There have been many preclusions. Marriage is vital. It is a social institution and it is changing. I would quote one of the people I admire most of all in the history of this country, the great advocate of Catholic emancipation, Daniel O'Connell, who, confronted by this kind of narrow-minded dog-in-the-manger selfishness about extending liberties to Roman Catholics, made the point that human dignity is not a cake like the national product where the more one divides it up, the less there is. Rather it increases, so that the more one gives dignity and respect to citizens, the more everybody in society is enriched. For that reason, I say register and vote "Yes" triumphantly.