David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

They are like of episodes of "Father Ted" when they come out and bleat about marriage because it is an institution about which they know sweet damn all.

On the fifth claim that impotence or non-consummation could no longer be a ground for annulling a marriage, this is not the case. Non-consummation only renders a marriage voidable. In other words, it can be voided. It does not automatically void it. There are a series of options that the Oireachtas can, and probably will, take to amend this situation.

On the sixth claim that if the amendment is passed adultery could no longer be a ground for a judicial separation, this is nonsense. Of course it can. However, some tinkering may be required in this regard further down the line. For example, the definition could be extended to include a broader range of sexual conduct, as has already happened in New York, New Jersey, British Columbia, South Carolina and Louisiana. That is another lie nailed.

The seventh claim, that separating procreation from marriage and family would transfer ultimate responsibility for the care of children to the State, may have some validity. Why the hell should this not be the case? Does this person remember the Kilkenny incest case or the numerous unsavoury, unspeakable, phosphorescent cases of abuse within families? How can anybody maintain that those families were the correct place for children to be reared? Of course, the State should be the final arbiter in this regard. Of course, it should have the final responsibility for children.

If, and it is a big "if", we get this through, I will celebrate because I have been campaigning on these issues for the best part of 40 or 50 years. It will be great to be able to sign my name as David Norris, homosexual (retired). Many years ago when the issue of homosexuality was being discussed, one of the opponents of gay rights said that we would be looking for gay marriage next. My response at the time was: "Great, any further suggestions?" I made a note of it. As stated by Senator Bacik, marriage is not fixed; it never has been fixed. It only became a sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church in the mid-16th century. It only entered British domestic law in the mid-18th century. I remember a case for criminal conversation being heard and damages awarded for the alienation of sexual services from a man by his wife because she had sex with another person. In my lifetime, women were property; they were chattels. Numerous other examples have been given.

The media and various other people have propped up a couple of gay men who are against marriage. Again, this is a farce. I asked Gay Community Newsto carry out a survey on this issue. The result was that 94% of gay men are enthusiastically in support of it, 4% are against it and 2% do not know. That is the reality. Why do the media not reflect the reality? I have not been asked to appear on this issue on any radio or television show despite that this is a subject about which I know a great deal. Why is that? Why are only disgruntled, malcontent, unrepresentative gay people interviewed? Where is the equality in that?

I took issue with RTE in relation to an interview on its "Drivetime" show with a business woman, who argued her case against passage of the referendum, and more power to her. She was followed by a journalist about whom I was very suspicious. I was right. She was a Trojan horse, although RTE denied it. She put forward all the arguments for voting against the referendum and then said that despite doing so, she would be voting "Yes". That is how she got it in. That is not equality. That is not equal treatment.

I mentioned changes to marriage. I am an Anglican. I remember that in previous years I disliked marriage intensely because of the continual bleating in the marriage service to "I thee worship with my body".All of that is gone out of it. Women had to promise to obey their husbands but they do not have to do this any more.

If the amendment is passed, I doubt very much that the next morning heterosexual married couples will wake up in bed and look at each other and say, "Oh, Irene, I feel so much less married to you this morning". If they do, to hell with them. If their marriage is that weak, I have no sympathy whatever with them. I point to Scandinavia, where in the aftermath of legalising gay marriage it led to an increase in heterosexual marriage. The bishops and the proponents of marriage should be enthusiastically welcoming this and stating, "At last here we are, you have listened to us", because 30 or 40 years ago they were bellyaching about sexual promiscuity and all the fun gay people were having. There was a dog in the manger attitude about it. Now, they have turned around and when gay people want to get married, they tell them they cannot touch marriage because that is for them and only for them.

I support marriage equality. I very much doubt I will get married myself, but if there is anybody out there with qualifications in nursing and cookery and a large farm at Tipperary, here I am. My number is on the Oireachtas website. I support this strongly because as a liberal, and I am not ashamed to say I am a liberal, I believe in the greatest range of choices for every citizen. I am thrilled to say my heart lifted when I listened to the speeches of the Minister and my colleagues in Seanad Éireann.