Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, to the House on this special day. This special speech is a special acknowledgement and a special apology. Like others, I echo everything that has been said about our great and dear friend, Senator Norris. I have got to know him over the past seven years. In that time, I have developed an understanding of the type of character he is. That character is what defined equality in this country in the 1980s when it was a different space. It was a time when even condoms and contraception were illegal. There was a straitjacket approach. If one was not in that jacket, there was something wrong with one. In this case, one could be jailed. It was a joke back then. Young people today would hardly believe that it was the case.

In fairness, Senator Norris championed decriminalisation. People like Mary Robinson rode in behind to support him. Slowly but surely, the political classes realised that what Senator Norris was saying was correct. When the then Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, saw Senator Norris's campaign, and following on from the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, she instigated the decriminalisation of homosexuality in this country.

It has moved on much since. Much has happened and much campaigning has been done. Whatever about changing the laws, the changing of hearts, minds and perceptions of people is a wholly different matter. That can only happen through people coming out, telling their stories and being brave. That whole process evolved over 25 years until that great day in 2015, when ordinary decent people who are homosexual, came out and told their stories as to why they believed there should be marriage equality.

That was paralleled by great and brave people in the political world and leaders of society. I look to the man on my right, who has not been mentioned at all in the speeches so far. I am proud and happy that the Leader of the House, Senator Buttimer, played a pivotal and important role in the campaign to ensure that marriage equality got over the line. I am proud of Senator Buttimer. I am also proud I can call him and his husband, Conchobhar, close personal friends of mine. The House is lucky to have a Leader who is both intelligent and brave, as well as having enormous credibility and ability. He is a leader in society and has proved this. Due to Senator Buttimer's approach, forthright campaigning and telling his story back then, people like the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, came on board and campaigned for marriage equality.This would not have happened were it not for people like Senator Jerry Buttimer. In 2015, Ireland passed, by considerable margin, the marriage equality referendum and became the first country to introduce same-sex marriage by popular vote. That was a defining moment for Irish society.

In terms of the equality agenda, we have a long way to go. I am probably the only Member of either House of the Oireachtas with a disability, and I am proud to be so. There has never been a deaf person or a member of the Traveller community elected to either House of the Oireachtas. This is where leadership starts and where minds and hearts and changed. The equality agenda moves on. It will not be disposed of fully until such time as we have true equality for every citizen in this country, irrespective of their sexuality, disability or ethnic background. We are lucky that we have a Government and, in the person of Deputy Flanagan, a Minister for Justice and Equality that believe in equality. In good time, the aspiration of equality for all our citizens will be realised.