Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sometimes anxious that I might talk too often on a certain issue but I also subscribe to the view "If not you, who?". Today marks International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. On this day, global and state policymakers are asked to consider their progress in eliminating bigotry and prejudices that damage the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex, LGBTQI, community. During our debate on conversion therapy, I said that we live in a society where many same-sex couples will not hold hands in the street, where "gay" is a term of abuse in playgrounds and where mental distress is much higher among LGBTQI people. This week, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, ILGA, released its European rainbow map, an annual benchmarking tool which ranks 49 countries in Europe on their LGBTI equality laws and policies. The map also reveals states where advances are not being made at the rate they once were. The intention behind this exercise is to highlight the lack of sustained progress on LGBT equality issues and it should set off alarm bells for policymakers and advocates alike. While most of us recall the recent referendum on civil marriage equality and the Gender Recognition Act 2015, it must be noted that this State ranks only 15th among its European counterparts. The review accompanying the map refers to positive events of this year, such as the review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015, the LGBTI+ youth strategy, Senator Nash's legislation on pardons and apologies for gay men who were criminalised and the election of Deputy Varadkar as Taoiseach. However, it also states that Irish law "continues to be conspicuous by its absence from Ireland's statute books of hate crime legislation that protects LGBTQI people". This State is the only western European jurisdiction without standard hate crime legislation. This means, in reality, that we have no way of bringing specified charges against individuals who specifically target minorities with racist, homophobic or bigoted biases. Sinn Féin is calling on the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to the House to discuss his plans to implement robust hate crime legislation in the lifetime of this Government.

As the House may know, today marks the 44th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. On 17 May 1974, 33 people lost live their lives, which was the largest loss of life in any event of the conflict. The families and Justice for the Forgotten have campaigned for four decades for the truth of what happened to their loved ones. The release of British state documents has been the subject of two all-party motions passed by these Houses. I call on the Tánaiste, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, to renew his efforts in seeking these papers from the British Government.

Last evening, the House discussed the case of the hooded men. This is another case whereby justice has long been denied. We cannot become complacent because most of these legal struggles are now entering their fourth decade without answers, without truth and without justice being forthcoming.