This weekend, tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of Dublin for Dublin Pride. Dublin Pride is a really good party, but it is also a protest and a call for progress. Sadly, under the Tánaiste's leadership, we have not seen any progress. We are now consistently ranked 14th in Europe in terms of LGBT human rights and policy protections year after year. I will give one example, namely, the commitment to ban conversion therapy and conversion practices. It was included in the programme for Government in 2020 and recommitted to in 2025, but we have not seen progress. Research commissioned by the Government describes conversion therapy as traumatising, horrendous and anxiety provoking. One person said, "It left me with trauma, from which I am still attempting to heal, it destroyed my self worth … and my health." The College of Psychiatry describes it as unethical, harmful and not supported by evidence. Eight other EU states have already legislated and six years after a commitment, we are still waiting. When are we going to get this legislation?

Sentiment score: -0.18