I add my own good wishes to Tom McGrath on his retirement as Head Usher. I thank him for the great support and help he has given over the years. He has been extremely facilitatory to all Members and we appreciate that.

I welcome the Government announcement yesterday that a referendum on marriage equality will be held during the lifetime of the Government, probably in the first half of 2015. It is vital we move forward on this vital civil liberties issue. I pay tribute to Senators Norris and Zappone who in this House have been hugely instrumental in moving the debate forward. The introduction of the civil partnership legislation was an important step on the road to the equality, but clearly that alone was not equality. I am hopeful the referendum will be passed. I am also glad we have time to prepare the ground for that and that the Minister for Justice and Equality has committed to publishing by Christmas a children and family relationships Bill, which will go a long way to ensuring equality for children, irrespective of the family unit they are in or the marital status of their parents. That is important ground work that should be done. It is also important to note the role of the Constitutional Convention and its resounding majority in favour of this referendum.

I call again on the Leader in that context to invite Mr. Tom Arnold, the chairperson of the convention, to speak to us not only about that recommendation but also about the range of recommendations the convention has made, including the most recent recommendation on blasphemy. It recommended last weekend that this offence should be deleted from the Constitution. It would be good to hear from Mr. Arnold about the work the convention has done and the work on amendments it will undertake next February.

I echo Senator Darragh O'Brien's welcome of the announcement by the Minister for Justice and Equality yesterday that he will appoint a senior counsel to conduct an independent review of the Fr. Niall Molloy case. I acknowledge the significant contribution made in pushing that issue onto the agenda by my colleagues in the Labour Party, Senators John Kelly and John Whelan, who have been instrumental in getting this decision made. This again demonstrates the role of the Seanad in vital issues of public policy.

Reference was made yesterday by Members to the new international soccer management team. I welcome the appointment of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane. They will be a strong team and there will be huge celebrations. Even Eamon Dunphy has welcomed it.

I would also like to add my congratulations to Tom McGrath. He has been much more successful than myself because he entered the House directly in 1977. That was the first year I ran and it took me another ten years to penetrate the sanctum of Leinster House. He is always helpful and courteous and never flustered.

I also welcome the Government's commitment to same-sex marriage and, in particular, I commend the Taoiseach. I very much welcome what he had to say because I did not know where he was. I was not sure whether he was sitting on the fence or was actively hostile to the idea but yesterday he said he would support it strongly. There could be nothing less ambiguous than that and he said he would be out campaigning for this. Approximately 80% of the members of the Constitutional Convention voted in favour of a referendum while a large majority of people according to consistent opinion polls think this should be done, and so it should. Somebody on the wireless said yesterday there were 79 differences between marriage and other partnerships. There are 179, with some less significant than others. I pay tribute to the role of Deputy Jerry Buttimer.

When I was involved in this issue a long time ago, it was very much on the margins. Now it is in the centre and it is terribly important that it is now a mainstream issue, which is taken up not by people like myself but by other people, gay and straight, who have progressive ideas and who understand the pain and difficulty of children, for example, in gay relationships.

With regard to the role of the bishops, they have every right to speak out. I have no difficulty whatever with that. I do wish, however, that they would talk a bit of sense sometimes and take a leaf out of Pope Francis's book. The suggestion that marriage will be devalued is absolute tripe. Coming from a group of people who are elderly, celibate, have no experience of marriage and presided over a system which was criminally dysfunctional with regard to the abuse of children, women and gay people, they should be more considered in what they say.

In respect of the Iona Institute, I would like somebody to tell me how it is funded, how it was set up and who its members are. It is a mysterious organisation that is somehow given some kind of credibility. It should, however, be completely discredited because time after time, on every single issue, it has misquoted and abused scientific papers and been reprimanded by the authors of those papers.

The Government's approach on this issue is very clever. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, who is very astute, will be sent out to draw the fangs on the most contentious issues, after which a fairly bland proposal will be put through. It is a clever strategy.

Is the Senator seeking a debate on this issue?

I certainly am seeking a debate. We must never forget the children who exist in these relationships. The real abuse is the present situation whereby a child can enter a loving relationship between persons of the same sex, be fostered, cherished and loved by them, but then, if the adopting parent dies, be left completely bereft.

I very much welcome the erection of a memorial in Kerry to Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a remarkable and courageous man who should be a world figure. We in Ireland should be much more proud of him than we are. At the height of the Second World War he exposed himself to danger by rescuing Jewish prisoners. Although from a republican family, he also rescued a considerable number of Allied airmen and soldiers. He represents the conscience of the Vatican and is a man of whom we should be extraordinarily proud. The Italians were so impressed with him as a human being that in a film made in the late 1950s or 1960s, they claimed him as one of their own. It is time we told the world that Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irishman and we are as proud of him as we are of Roger Casement.