Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ach oiread leis na daoine a labhair romham, cuirim an-fháilte go deo roimh an mBille seo agus roimh an Aire agus gabhaim mo chomhghairdeas le gach duine san Áiléar Poiblí.

Parties can claim some small credit for this Bill coming through but this was the citizens' victory and congratulations to all who were involved in it. Sinn Féin welcomes this Bill to the House with open arms. It is a momentous occasion, where we as a people come together to end a two-tier system of marriage inequality. Marriage is about one thing: love and a lasting commitment to honour love. Nobody should ever be denied that opportunity.

It is difficult to sum up the magnitude of the decision taken by the people earlier this year. It is hard to put into words the effects that this will have in terms of the happiness for thousands of citizens and their families and the foundation it has laid to build on this equality and expand it in terms of socio-economic rights to others at the margins of society. This great occasion called for something different. It needed to hear a voice representing those who it affects the most.

The following is an extract from a letter sent to my colleague, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:

As a gay man who in his formative years was terrified by my own identity, when I was a teenager I hated myself because I did not fit in. I was an outcast. I thought that being gay was a feeling that would just go away and that someday I'd marry and have my own family. The feeling of being attracted to another man never went away.

In reality, the law told me I was a criminal. The church told me I was an abomination and the mere mention of being gay in the schoolyard was enough to set off alarm bells that stopped me from being the person I wanted to be.

Coming out was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I had to ask those around me for their approval. I was terrified they'd reject me and I'd become further isolated in my own loneliness. In the end, nobody rejected me. Those around me only wanted me to be happy and to encounter the true feeling of love.

You see - the isolation and marginalisation was embedded in my subconscious since my early teens. It took years for me to see it and to deal with it. From working with groups like Gay Switchboard I knew I wasn't alone and I know there's many more like me.

Four years ago I found that love. It took me 40 years to find him and I'd wait another 40 years to spend just one day in his company, to experience just one moment of the serenity of love. I'd go so far as saying that in a hundred years' time the 23rd of May will been seen as, not Ireland's, but one of humanity's proudest moments because it was a day when equality conquered fear. Perhaps May 23rd should become a bank holiday and [be ]called Equality Day [or Rainbow Day] to remind future generations of the significance of, not just our emancipation, but the equality of every citizen.

I wanted to read Chris's words into the record today because they say much on a day like this. The Bill is, therefore, very welcome.

The events of 22 May 2015 changed lives forever. The result of a referendum in favour of marriage equality was hard-fought by equality champions over many years. Those people faced discrimination and intimidation and were labelled second-class citizens.

As we acknowledge the importance of this historic legislation, let us do so in the realisation that the task of building a truly equal society is far from complete. As we speak, the Travelling community is in mourning and burying its dead. This group, above all others, is subject to most severe forms of institutional racism. Its members are also what may be described as "fair game" for large sections of society as they vent, what can only be described, as an acceptable and overt form of everyday racism. As legislators and public representatives, there is a duty on us to name this for what it is and to make serious efforts to eradicate it. We must end the economic, social and cultural exclusion of Travellers and other minorities. The recent tragic and needless loss of life should be a stark reminder to us that the work of building a truly equal society is far from complete.

The marriage referendum was a victory and a call to equality but also a call to equality for Travellers; equality for asylum seekers and people in direct provision; equality for people with disabilities; equality for rural dwellers; equality for emigrants, many of whom had to travel home to vote; and equality for Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Quakers, believers and non-believers of all kinds from all backgrounds. It is important to say that equality of marriage is not the same as equality of Catholic marriage and I say that as a practising Catholic because Catholics choose to be such and are able to sign up to that ethos. However, citizens have rights, and we cannot force anyone to accept an ethos that they do not choose themselves. The comments on section 7 of the Bill are particularly welcome.

Is lá ceiliúrtha agus comhghairdis atá inniu ann. Molaim an Aire as ucht an Bille seo a thabairt tríd na Tithe. This Bill is very welcome, although in future I might say to the Minister, in terms of other Bills that we are looking forward to passing through the Houses, that she was able to speed up this legislation. However, this is a day for congratulations and celebration for all the citizens, all the activists and all the people who campaigned for so long for this Bill. Molaim é do na Tithe.