To begin, I express my deep appreciation to Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing this Bill forward and continuing to put his experience and passion behind this particular issue. I also thank those Deputies who are cosignatories of the Bill as well as the Deputies who have spoken and joined this debate tonight. I appreciate the openness of both the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, to engage with the core principles of this particular Bill and their commitment to bring forward amendments to it. As a cosignatory of the Bill, there is real openness to have a constructive debate on this Bill and look at amendments to see how we can strengthen elements of it. It is important this is done quickly. While recognising the real achievement of being here and debating this Bill today on the floor of the House, this has taken a long time. It has taken too long. I hope, in the spirit the Minister and Minister of State have come into this House and made commitments to move this swiftly, we see that brought forward. The reason we are here today with the Bill finally arriving at the floor of Dáil Éireann, despite the elapse of time, is because of the tireless efforts of a number of campaigners over many years. Some of them are here in the Gallery and many are watching online. I wish to recognise that tireless work on this, and indeed, many issues. The rest of us across the LGBTI+ community and I owe them many, if not all, of the rights that we enjoy today as citizens - rights that had to be fought for. I am deeply grateful to their work over many years. The consequences of a legal conviction are very real. There is the direct impact on the person who has been convicted in terms of a fine or maybe a prison sentence. There is a social stigma. We know that stigma is one that will continue very often for a long time after a person has served their time and has been released. There is the impact on families. There are very practical issues around the loss of income. There is the practical necessity of separation when somebody is incarcerated. Again, the stigma that attaches to somebody who has been convicted can often attach to their wider family. They can see exclusion within their local community. That power of the State to officially sanction its own citizens has real meaning and real strength. It is one of the true defining factors of a state that it has that power to punish its citizens. In my time as equality Minister, I had the opportunity to travel to Poland and meet with leaders of Polish LGBTI+ groups. This was at the time when the Law and Justice party was in government there. They were telling me how that party was co-opting and marshalling apparatuses of the state. I was struck by what they said about how the government there had used the ombudsman for children in Poland, as an organisation, and had used the sanction of the state to target LGBTI+ groups that were working with young people. It was casting that work as some sort of act of child abuse or grooming. I know the role that the Office of the Ombudsman for Children plays in this country. Yes, it can be a real thorn of the side of a government, but always in a good sense. It is always trying to make things better for all children, particularly the most vulnerable children. What I learned on my trip to Poland illustrated to me what happens when the weight of power of a state is aimed against someone for something that is so basic and intrinsic for them. The power of the State is very real. That is why a process for lifting or removing State sanction, when that sanction was implemented for the wrong reasons, is so important. I think we all accept that a person's sexuality is an innate part of their humanity and that the expression of that sexuality is part of a body of rights protected by human rights and constitutional rights. In that context, we have to recognise that Irish law made being gay a crime in this country. It made being in love with another man and acting on that love a crime. It made taking a fancy for a guy and acting on that fancy - something as basic as that - a crime. It criminalised those very basic elements of humanity. The Bill we are debating seeks to make some reparation for that treatment. What we are doing today is entirely consistent with a set of actions that Ireland has taken over the past 15 or 20 years to recognise, and try to make some recompense for, how our State treated other minorities and other vulnerable groups after we gained our independence. We can think of our treatment of women who became pregnant outside of marriage. We can think of our treatment of the children of those women. We can think of our treatment of members of the Traveller community. For each of those groups, certain steps have been taken. There are other groups that the State probably needs to do more to recognise, particularly those who were institutionalised for a disability or for having a mental health illness. Deputy Donnelly rightly drew our attention to the increasing levels of homophobia and transphobia in our society. Deputy Rice spoke to that issue as well. While it is positive to be here today looking to advance important legislation, it is sad to say that Dublin and Ireland today are less safe for members of the LGBTI+ community than ten years ago. I have seen that retreat in safety in my own lifetime. One naively assumes that progress and enhancement of rights is always going to be one way, but that it is not the case. I saw that in Poland. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians saw that in their own country, but hopefully the pendulum of progress can begin to swing back now after Sunday's election results. We have seen a retreat in safety for members of the LGBTI+ community in our country. That is a source of real concern to me and many people in this House. Bearing that in mind today, with the law that is before us we have an opportunity to clearly restate our values as an Oireachtas and as a country. We have an opportunity to recognise and right the wrong that was done to hundreds of our citizens over many decades.

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