David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I recognise the presence in the Visitors Gallery of my old friends David Parris and Gerard Scully. I have known them for well over 30 years and recognise their extraordinary courage in taking this action. When I took several constitutional actions, all the costs were paid, mine and those of the then Government, even when I lost. However, Dr. Parris has been forced to pay €50,000 out of his own pocket. There is something there that needs to be examined. It is completely wrong.

I have no personal axe to grind in respect of this Bill. I am not married. At the age of 73 it is rather unlikely that I will get married, although I am open to offers. I spent so much time pushing the boat out that I forgot to jump on and saw it going out of the harbour with little figures waving at me while I was stuck on the strand. This is a measure to tidy up some of the remaining anomalies after the passage of various items of civil partnership and marriage equality legislation. We talk about marriage equality but marriage is not equal as long as this anomaly arises.

It is really an extraordinary anomaly. I have raised it repeatedly in this House since the first civil partnership Bill was introduced because I spotted it and I was contacted by a few members of the public who were affected by it. It is a truly Kafkaesque situation. People could not apply for a pension because they did not marry but they could not marry and, therefore, could not get their pensions. It is utterly revolting. People were forced to contribute to a pension from which they did not benefit. That is patently unfair. In the old days when I raised this I was told it was a question of expense, that it would cost the Exchequer too much - rubbish. There is no price on equality. It is a principle and it has to be guaranteed.

It is absurd that people who were not in a position to marry are penalised for this. I would think the number of cases is extremely small. I very much doubt that any pension funds would be endangered by it. I do not think I am breaking too many confidences in saying that I bumped into the Minister and mentioned this to him and he said that it could affect small pension funds relating to approximately four people. I rather doubt it. I do not think there are very many.

Since the passage of the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Act 2015, there have been only a couple of hundred marriages. That is a tiny number. It is ridiculous that we are halting the State machine in its majestic progress for the sake of a couple of hundred people. How terribly mean-minded.

I am glad to say that I have lived in this country through such a period of change. I have no gaydar. I am incapable of telling whether somebody is a fairy or not. It is wonderful that we have a Government with two openly gay Ministers. It should not matter a damn to anybody but at the stage we are at I take courage from the fact that two outstanding members of the Cabinet are openly gay and nobody bats an eyelid. That is exactly the way it should be. It gives this country something it never had during my youth, namely, somebody to look up to and to take as a gay role model. It also shows that people can be successful and happy and contribute to public life. When they contribute, however, they should be rewarded and there should be no discrimination in terms of pensions. I commend Senator Bacik and the Labour Party on introducing this legislation. I remember times when this was not a popular political message, to put it mildly. Now, it is taken as a matter of course. The Irish people, who are fair-minded and decent, would say that, yes, this matter needs to be addressed.