Marriage equality and children and families
The Leader resumed on marriage equality, praising Australia’s vote, Tiernan Brady’s campaign work and broader progress on LGBT rights. He then moved on to begin a response to a question on Children and Family matters, which was cut off in the excerpt.
Senator Warfield was missing yesterday. To be fair to him, he could not be here. I join him again in congratulating the people of Australia. I agree with him that it should not have had to be done through a non-binding vote. He is 100% correct. There should have been enough political leadership to pass a Bill to allow everybody to get married. Again, I pay tribute to Tiernan Brady, who spearheaded the campaign. It is wonderful to have an Irish person in Australia leading a campaign-----
Comment on this
He was probably the only Fianna Fáil man who campaigned for marriage equality here. However, it was wonderful, and I think what Senator Warfield is indirectly saying, which we should also put on the record, is that the political landscape of the world is changing, but there are many parts of the world where change is not happening, where there is regression on the rights of LGBT citizens. It seems that western democracies have to take up this cause, because we have the leadership and we have courage. It is important that we continue that work.
In response to the question on the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, I do not have that information, but I would be happy to revert on that. I know it is an issue that is vexing people, and I have forwarded a request to the Department of Justice and Equality previously. It is something that is coming up a bit.
I have raised the issues that Senator Humphreys mentioned around climate change. Senator Noone raised the issue of social media and the need for temperance and moderation in views and expressions on social media. I am sure that everybody who is a politician has at some point in time been subjected to horrible vilification and vitriol. The Senator is right that there is a need for some type of curb in this evolving medium. I will be happy to have that debate in the House. Apart from the issue of cybersecurity, we need to look at security around social media, concerning what people can and can not say.
Senator Ó Domhnaill raised a very important point about the national planning framework. I would be very happy to have a debate on the future of Ireland in the context of the debate on the national planning framework. I will try to have that before Christmas. I thank the Members for their contributions.