I wish a happy Pride to everybody, particularly those in the Gallery who are visiting today. I welcome everybody to the House. This month is a celebration of our queer community. I want to give a shout-out to my daughter Bella, one of my favourite members of the queer community, and maybe I can also mention Anna Nolan, one of my other favourite lesbians who is in the Gallery today. Pride is also about its origins, which was about calling out the systemic ways in which the LGBT community are marginalised. We have to do that here in Ireland and recognise the ways in which we are failing those among us who are LGBT. My colleague Deputy Rice has just given a tour de force on how exactly that is happening. It is also important for us, as legislators, to acknowledge and recognise the ways in which we can fix this and the things we can do to make progress. I will tell a short story to illustrate three things, namely, the pride we are celebrating, the ways in which discrimination happens and what we can do to fix it. I was contacted by Joe Caslin, who is a brilliant mural artist. In the coming days, he will be unveiling a new piece, which has a trans theme and celebrates our trans community. Joe's work is hugely celebrated; it is beautiful, thought provoking and prompting. I am sure many of here will remember his work, The Claddagh Embrace, which, in the run-up to the marriage equality debate, really helped to prompt public discourse and dialogue about how we were all feeling about that debate, and also for us to see a visual representation of gay men. It was beautiful and really well received, and it is something I think we all remember. Joe is an incredibly well-respected, internationally-reputed artist. It was unfortunate for me to hear his experience. He was commissioned to do this work last year and we are at the point where it is about to be unveiled in the coming days. Unfortunately, what he came across as a street artist was a framework, when he was engaging with Dublin City Council, which was totally opaque and which did not nurture that street art as a genre or the community he represents. Instead, he was made to jump through hoops. He was given no clarity as to how the decision was being made. He was forced into decisions that he should not have had to make. It looks like a lot of these decisions are made in the planning part of the organisation rather than where they should be, which is in the artistic part of the organisation. Unfortunately, what this results in is that this art, which is such an important part of who we are, is relegated to construction hoardings and electricity boxes. This art is challenging, as it should be, and that is why we have to celebrate it. It is why I give a commitment to Joe today that I will do everything I can to resolve that and to work with my colleagues in Dublin City Council to make sure we acknowledge street art for what it is. Street art is a crucial way for us to recognise all parts of society, prompt dialogue and celebrate our queer community.

Sentiment score: 0.27