Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. For the month that is in it, I want to talk about Pride in 2022. I recall having an overwhelming sense of pride in my country when Ireland passed the same-sex marriage referendum. After all, love is love. However, seven years on I am prompted to reassess. It is my wedding anniversary today. I have had 21 happy years with Mark. Never once in those years, or the time preceding them, have I or we ever considered our safety while expressing our affection in public. It might even be something like holding hands, which is such a natural human gesture. However, recent EU Agency for Fundamental Rights data tell us a quarter of members of the LGBT+ community in Ireland always avoid holding hands in public for fear of being assaulted, threatened or harassed. Most will assess their environment before even taking such a decision. That puts me and my husband, and the majority of us, in a very privileged position.

Scrolling through the excellent Cork LGBT Archive, I found the report of Ireland's first National Gay Conference in 1981, which was a precursor to Pride in Ireland. It refers to a certain David Norris as a speaker and reports "David hoped that the positive note of the Conference theme would be reflected in a commitment to move forward with a strong sense of unity". I thank my colleague for his 50 plus years of advocacy for LGBT+ rights in Ireland and helping to repeal Victorian-era laws.

I am also proud of the legacy and the current role my party, the Green Party, has played in this area. There is a bright rainbow within the green and a bright green in the middle of that rainbow. I am proud to be part of a Government that will publish a scheme to disregard convictions prior to decriminalisation in 1993. Pride is clearly as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. I am excited that in my own area there is now a Laois Pride that was created in partnership with the Midlands LGBT+ Project. Yesterday, an exhibition was launched in Abbeyleix on the changes to the laws on LGBT+ people from 1860 up to today. I am also thankful that in Offaly, a sub-group of the joint policing committee is launching an online survey on gender-based violence and harassment in public amenities. We need these conversations; we cannot be complacent. Pride is an opportunity for LGBT+ people to celebrate who they are but it is so much more than a party. It is a reminder to the rest of us of what we take for granted.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State. Just to maintain party rotation, I call Senator Ó Donnghaile.

I shall begin my remarks with a quote by a very famous and well-known Dubliner. In 1921, Edward Carson said:

What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.

Replace 1921 with 2022 and replace the words "to get the Conservative Party into power" with "to keep the Conservative Party and, probably in particular, Boris Johnson in power" and we can see the very dangerous and retrograde antics play out in London. I refer to knowingly breaching international law. That has been done, with eyes wide open, by the British Prime Minister and his Government, which jeopardises the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement and its institutions and, indeed, the economies of this island both North and South.

As I am sure colleagues will know and agree with me, the reality is that the protocol, which was agreed to and negotiated by the British Government and the EU Commission, works for the benefit of people, businesses and the economies here on this island. It is by no means the perfect solution nor is it the solution that we wanted here given that no one in Ireland - North or South - consented to Brexit.

I wish to express my very real concern and, indeed, that of my party, about the direction of travel by the British Government and not just this breach of international law with its protocol Bill but coupled with moves around issues like legacy and other matters of deep concern. We need to be alert to what is happening in Britain and Westminster. We need to ensure that here in this House we remain, as we have consistently done, united in our support for the protocol and for its proper effective implementation, and above all else our resolute unity and support for the Good Friday Agreement and its institution.

I do not believe anyone is under any illusions about the machinations that are playing out in the Tory Party, and how willingly they put Ireland and our peace and progress under threat to suit their own agenda. They also operate to give political cover to a section of political unionism which, ironically, do not support the Good Friday Agreement, never did support it and opposed same yet sees people day-to-day continuing to suffer without institutions in the North as we face ever more into a cost-of-living crisis. I appreciate that this is playing out before us. Therefore, it would be right and proper, and certainly before the summer recess, that the Minister for Foreign Affairs updates us on this issue and outlines the measures and moves the Irish Government will pursue to oppose this direction and to garner and mobilise international solidarity and diplomatic support in opposition to it.