David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and it is very nice to be back here in Seanad Éireann.

I think sometimes we forget how privileged we are to live in this wonderful country of Ireland, which is liberal, tolerant, decent and respect the rights of people. It is a real privilege to be here. I look at reports, for example, about the ignorant American priest who came over here to County Kerry and gave out all sorts about gay people and so on. It is a load of rubbish. I mean the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ himself, never once mentioned it so it was not a big problem for him. In fact, Christopher Marlowe, the great playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare, suggested the possibility that Jesus might have been gay himself. I do not think that he was. I think that he was not particularly sexual in any particular way. Next we have Qatar, where the so-called ambassador for FIFA denounced homosexuality in very bitter terms before, to my great delight, being quenched by an official from FIFA. It was lovely to see the kind of candle coming down and putting out his light. That is all I came in to say. I wanted to stand up as usual, in my feeble sort of way, for gay rights. I thank Seanad Éireann for recognising these things. Of course, in Ireland we have several very prominent people in Irish politics, including the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, who is openly gay. That is a very remarkable thing, and a tribute to the decency of Ireland and its people.