Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I commend my colleague, Senator Warfield, on tabling this Private Members' motion in the Seanad. We sometimes reflect on how far we have come as a country in terms of rights. I recently listened to the "Inside the Crime" podcast and it brought back just how different a country Ireland was in the 1970s and 1980s. The podcast covered the murder of Charles Self. I was struck by the fact that the Garda, rather than focusing on who took the life of that man focused instead on his diary and the influential people who were named in it. They used the information to have leverage and to out people to their families. In 1982, with the murder of Declan Flynn and the response of Mr. Justice Seán Gannon, who said that no element of correction was required for the five young men who were involved in his murder because they came from good homes. That shows how society viewed those in the LGBT community at the time. Their lives were not worth as much as everybody else's. We know from history that the death of Declan Flynn and others who died before him led to a movement of anger among the community, the members of which felt that enough was enough and it was time to fight back. We saw the protest march from Liberty Hall to Fairview Park, which subsequently led to the first Dublin Pride event.

It is important that while we recognise that we have moved on as a country and a society in many ways, we should never be complacent. Anti-queer violence is on the rise again. The year 2022 was one of the most dangerous years in Ireland for the LGBT community. We saw numerous violent attacks against friends and family members. As recently as today, Members of this House raised the awful video of a young 14-year-old who was attacked for being gay. This is a sad reminder that rights are always won, they are never given to us. We must constantly fight to retain them because there will always be a backlash when rights are progressed. We can never become complacent about how hard-fought they were by hose who went before us to ensure that the people who came after them do not have to suffer the same way as they did.

It is also important to note that not only have we seen violent attacks increase, we have also seen targeted campaigns against high profile LGBT people. There was a time when gay and lesbian politicians were not open about their sexuality but, thankfully, that is no longer the case. However, it is concerning to see politicians in this House and in the Dáil, including those who hold ministerial office, being targeted by people who seek to undo all that has been achieved over the past 30 years. We can never let that happen. We must stand united so that we never go back to those dark days. It is right to recognise that the apology from the Taoiseach in 2018 was very welcome. It was very important to set out a State apology, but we now need to deliver on the commitment in the programme for Government to disregard the criminal records of the gay men who were convicted of historic offences. That is important for the men who were convicted and their families. As Senator Warfield stated, some of them are no longer with us.

It is important that we, as policymakers, stand together. When we see a backlash against rights and when people try to bring us back to those dark days, we must send out a clear message to those involved that we will not accept it and that we will not bend or bow to their cause. Disregarding the convictions of the men to whom the motion refers would send a very strong message to the effect that Ireland is never going back there, but also that the members of our LGBT community are our friends, our family members and our loved ones. They are loved and accepted and they will never have to go through what happened in the past.

I commend Senator Warfield on bringing forward this motion. We can never ever be complacent. We all have a duty to make sure that we never go back to those dark days of the 1970s and 1980s.