Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As far as I am concerned, all we need to do here is remove the phrase "on matters of Government policy". If we remove that phrase, we can agree to move forward on that basis. Again I go back to the situation mentioned earlier, which the Tánaiste did not address. A Pride parade is a political parade. Would the Tánaiste agree with that? If so, then any regulation coming forward has to cover instances where the Defence Forces would be allowed to proudly parade in uniform. It was really disappointing for me last weekend when the Defence Forces were told that they were not welcome at a Pride parade. There are many members of the Defence Forces who are right across the gay community. They cover everything and it is great that we have moved to a situation where, for example, homosexuality is accepted in the Defence Forces. In my time, it was illegal.

We are talking about being identified in uniform and that is one element that has to be resolved. We have to have an answer to that but after that, if we can just get rid of the phrase "matters of Government policy" from this legislation, we can move on and get to the next part of this Bill. It is important to get rid of that.