Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader.

PDFORRA is a great organisation. It was founded in 1990 and represents in excess of 6,500 members of the Defence Forces. I was fortunate enough to have known the founding member, Mr. John Lucey, who worked closely with Mr. Jim Brady from my area of Kildare. In recent days Mr. Mark Keane has stepped down after eight years as president. He is a fine person who served with great distinction and dignity. I wish him well and thank him for all the work he did. We have a new president now, Mr. Araon Kearney. There is also a female deputy, Ms Sandra Daly. The key priority for the outgoing and incoming presidents, along with Mr. Gerard Guinan, the excellent general secretary, is the pay and conditions of those who serve. Mr. Kearney mentioned equity for those who joined after 2013, long-service increments and the introduction of the rank of lance corporal, which was committed to by the Government. We need to see a clear roadmap. I would like the Minister for Defence to be asked to come to the House to have a debate on how best to support those who are members of PDFORRA.

Having said that, I give a shout out to the members of the Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel, ONE, the veterans. It is always a privilege to meet them when they hold their commemorations. They are doing some good ongoing work on supporting veterans, especially those who are homeless and those who need a place to gather. I am working on a project in Newbridge with Cormac Kirwan, the general secretary, that will provide both of those spaces. I am looking forward to that.I wish to briefly mention that it has been ten years since the referendum on marriage equality. I was very much a part of that campaign ten years ago. Seeing that we are celebrating ten years of marriage equality this week, I came across a small poem written in 1325 by Hafez:

... men and women who are married

And men and men who are

Lovers,

And women and women

Who give each other

Light,

It is so important that we reflect on that. I remember, in particular, the strong personal stories that people were so courageous to share. We need to reflect on the situation ten years later. Sadly, homophobia is still an everyday reality. As a country, we rank 14th - lower than the middle - in terms of LGBTQ and human rights in Europe. We need to look again at banning conversion practices and completing the assisted human reproduction Act. It would be appropriate to have a debate with the Minister on true equality.