Order of Business - 27th May 2008

Order of Business - 27th May 2008

I join Senator Ormonde in asking again for a debate on the Lisbon
treaty, although not quite in the light she wants it. I would like a more balanced debate and I
look forward to an opportunity to provide some of that balance. We have not had a balanced
debate on the matter in the House. I will say more about that later.
I am very grateful to my colleagues, including Senators Frances Fitzgerald, O’Toole, Boyle
and others, for commenting on the absence of legislation about civil partnership. This is extraordinary, and the remarks of the Minister, Deputy Gormley, last night are very worrying. They at least prove I was right to remove my Bill as a mark of the distress I feel at the contempt
with which this subject is being treated. The House was clearly misled.
It is not good enough to say we will now have it in September and it was affected by a
change of Government. It cannot be just that as we were told the matter would be resolved by
31 March, which was well before the change. We have not got the heads of the Bill yet. We
were told clearly and categorically that we would have them, and this is necessary for us to
have the debate.
It has also been suggested that the problem may be due to changes in the Cabinet, particularly
in the post of Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is more than a decade
since we had a debate in this House which led to decriminalisation in this regard. The then
Fianna Fa´ il Government distinguished itself, and in particular the then Minister, Ma´ ire
Geoghegan-Quinn, in her strong cry for liberty and equality. This was reinforced subsequently
by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern.
The remarks of Deputy Bertie Ahern on that subject in that debate were recently resurrected.
A group of people from various parties came out with equally regressive attitudes. I
will say without naming anybody that one of the most vociferous people there subsequently
approached me and told me he had revised his opinion in light of the fact that his son told him
he was also gay. There is not a single Member whose extended families are not touched by
this. We should show a little human decency in this regard.
An Cathaoirleach: The Senator has made his point.
Senator David Norris: The majority of my colleagues on that side spoke very well on that.
An Cathaoirleach: The Senator has made the point to the Leader.
Senator David Norris: The other person suggested was Deputy Coughlan, a very intelligent
person. Let it be remembered that within the course of the last Government, she had the
unenviable distinction of being the only Minister in Europe to have introduced legislation
discriminating against the social rights of gay citizens in this country. That is why people like
myself are worried.
An Cathaoirleach: The Senator has made his point.
Senator David Norris: I acknowledge that we will be discussing Thornton Hall on Thursday,
which I welcome. It would be foolish not to acknowledge the document, Patients, Not Prisoners,
produced by the Central Mental Hospital carers’ group, the Irish Mental Health Coalition and
Schizophrenia Ireland. I ask other Members to acquire it. It discusses co-location of the mental
hospital, which is very worrying to many people.
We should consider Burma again in light of the appalling fact that the junta has extended
by six months the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi.
An Cathaoirleach: The Senator’s time is up.
Senator David Norris: It has also refused to allow non-governmental organisations to travel
beyond Rangoon.