Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I watched a programme on RTE last night, "A Different Country" which went through the personal stories of people who lived in Ireland before homosexuality was decriminalised. Many of them had quite moving tales to tell. We have made great advances in recent years - from marriage equality to the Children and Family Relationships Act, the amendment of section 37 of the Employment Equality Act, the Gender Recognition Act and other measures that have taken place in this House. However, in this week it would be foolish of us to assume that everything is okay. We still have a lot of work to do. In many parts of the country, LGBT young people still feel very afraid of coming out and of being who they are.

I suggest to the Leader that perhaps we should take the opportunity to reassess where we stand in terms of LGBT rights because it is one thing to get equality in law but it is another thing to get equality in society. We need to focus on three areas as we celebrate the great advances we have made in recent years. One is the area of education. Religious institutions that are hostile to the LGBT agenda and LGBT rights still have huge influence over the education system. The second area is that of sport. It is not so much the case in women's sport but I find it remarkable how few LGBT men feel comfortable about coming forward to say who they are. This matter needs to be addressed. As we celebrate Pride in Ireland this week, the most pressing issue this relates to the fact that our brothers and sisters in Northern Ireland still do not have the same rights as LGBT citizens here. They do not have the right to equal marriage. That has to be our focus as Northern Ireland is in sharp focus in the UK and in Ireland in the context of efforts to re-establish the Executive. It would be a strong message if all of us in this House across the various parties were to stand united and say that we believe it is time for Northern Ireland to introduce marriage equality. We have become a beacon of light across the world in the context of LGBT rights.

Saturday will be a glorious day in Dublin, as it always is every year, for Pride week. A few years ago it would have been unbelievable to think that we would have an LGBT Leader of this House, an LGBT leader of the country and LGBT members of Cabinet without much comment or fuss. That does not seem to make any difference whatsoever to the vast majority of Irish people. We have a long way to go in terms of those three points, namely, the education system, where we stand in the context of sport and where our fellow citizens in Northern Ireland stand. Let us take a moment to celebrate how far we have come and to celebrate Pride this week.