Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and welcome the opportunity to update the House on progress to ban the practice of so-called conversion therapy.

As we know, Ireland has become a proud, progressive and modern State that cherishes all people equally. We have made great strides in recent decades to promote equality and respond to the needs of a diverse population. We have a strong record as a champion of human rights internationally and have been at the forefront of advancing equality for LGBTI+ people.

Despite these advances challenges remain for members of our LGBTI+ community. We have seen those challenges manifest in the form of attacks on members of that community, physical attacks and attacks online over the course of the last year. This means that members of the LGBTI+ community do not always feel safe in public spaces. They continue to experience unacceptable levels of harassment, violence and discrimination. LGBTI+ people also face particular health issues. Therefore, we, in Government, have more work to do and we are committed to doing so.

I am here to discuss the Government's plans to progress the ban on the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy in Ireland. As members will be aware, the programme for Government contains a commitment to legislate to ban conversion therapy, which is a commitment that the Government takes very seriously. Both the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy and the LGBTI+ National Inclusion strategy contain commitments around the issue of conversion therapy. Both of these strategies are underpinned by a whole-of-Government approach.

Senator Seery Kearney spoke about how damaging conversion therapy is to people having counselled some of those who have been subjected to this practice. I, too, know about the deep psychological damage done by conversion therapy as I have spoken to two people who have been subjected to these practices. At the time of the conversion therapy one of them was in their late teens while the other person was in their early teens. They can attest to the fact that the experience had a deep and lasting impact on their development and acceptance of being gay.

It is in recognition of the seriousness negative effects of conversion therapy and the different areas in which it manifests that we have acted in a way to develop research in order to find and understand exactly where conversion therapy happen in our country, and in what circumstances so that we can design legislation explicitly to address that. For these reasons, my Department commissioned research aimed at capturing the views and experiences of people who have been subjected to conversion practices in Ireland. It is multi-phased and mixed-methodology research. The research includes a survey that is open to all members of the public, interviews with people who have experienced conversion therapy and an examination of the growing body of international research literature on the issue. The findings from our research will assist the Government to develop legislation to ban conversion therapy. The research is being conducted by an expert team in Trinity College and I expect it to be completed very shortly. We are also examining international jurisdictions in this regard. Earlier this week I met a delegation from Malta and that country was one of the first EU countries to ban conversion therapy.

In recent weeks, officials in my Department have engaged with officials in the Office of the Attorney General to identify the key legal issues that must be addressed in any new legislation. We have research examining the real-life practices of conversion therapy so we understand that and there is ongoing work to identify the key legal issues that any legislation must address. The Government and my Department will continue to progress this and we will look to have legislative proposals in the next number of months. This legislation is a key issue for the Government and myself, as Minister with responsibility for equality issues. I am happy to continue to engage with Members of this House as we go forward in terms of giving updates on where we are going and I hope to soon bring forward legislative provisions.