Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are about the same age. We remember how people who were different or gay in the community were treated abominably. They were laughed at and shunned. What miserable, horrible lives many of them had to live. Many of them left the country because of the way they were treated. That is the way things were at the time. It was very unfortunate and wrong. This Bill would give some form of comfort and redress to people who were on the wrong side of things in those days. The poet, Philip Larkin, said that sex came to Britain sometime betweenthe end of the ban on Lady Chatterley's Loverand the Beatles' first LP. I do not think it came to County Kerry quite as fast as that.

My party has a good record in terms of the general thinking behind this Bill.In 1989 a Fianna Fáil Government steered through the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989 which made it an offence to stir up hatred against a group or persons on a number of specific grounds, including their sexual orientation. It was a Fianna Fáil Minister, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who in 1993 brought forward the seminal Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act which finally brought to an end the unfair criminalisation of homosexual practices. It is worth noting that this legislation was introduced in the teeth of a poll conducted by The Sunday Presswhich showed that over 50% of the population were opposed to a change in the law. We also resisted attempts to set a discriminatory age of consent which ensured effective equality, regardless of sexual orientation.

The Employment Equality Act 1998 prohibits discrimination in employment on grounds of sexual orientation. It was closely followed by the ground-breaking Equal Status Act which was initiated by Fianna Fáil and took effect in October 2000. There is a long list of other Acts to which my party contributed and of which I am proud. I am proud to support this Private Member's Bill which is progressive. Other Members have said we are entering into an unknown political scenario. The regressive, backward-looking approach in the largest and most powerful democracy in the world must concern us. It is extraordinary that in the country which gave us Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy President Trump was elected. We must admit that he was democratically elected, but I hope, like many big storms, the wind will peter out after a while. It is early days yet and we live in hope.

It is great to support the Bill. It is frightening to think that great Irish people like Oscar Wilde who was a genius were criminalised. He had such a horrible end to his talented life because of the narrow-mindedness which obtained in his day. We welcome the Bill which we will support on every Stage.