CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Introduction
Thank you, Lord Mayor, for your warm welcome to the Mansion House. This building resonates with the human desire for freedom and equality. The First Dáil, and the first Cabinet meeting of the Government selected by it, met here. The portrait of Daniel O’Connell reminds us that he was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1841, and the first Catholic to hold the office since 1690. He was also the inspiring leader of the struggle for Catholic Emancipation.

Thank you, Kieran and the Board of GLEN for asking me to launch your progress reports for 2010 to 2012, an invitation I was honoured and delighted to accept. This progress report shows that GLEN’s record is an inspiring treasury of solid civil-rights achievement. It is a privilege to launch the report this year which is the 20th anniversary of decriminalisation of consensual gay sexual activity and the 25th anniversary of the founding of GLEN. Your achievements confirm that the silenced of history are silent no longer; instead their brave passionate reasoned voices speak with the noble password of democracy: ‘Equal Dignity for All’.

Edmund Burke wrote, over 200 years ago, that "no passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear". Fear of the unknown is possibly the most pervasive. The work of GLEN and other advocacy groups over the past decade has dispelled much of the prejudice and contributed substantially to a better public understanding of important issues relating to sexual orientation. This has facilitated a reasoned debate at all levels of Irish society, not least at political level - from town council to national Parliament - and driven much of the recent progress in enhancing respect for the rights of all persons, irrespective of sexual orientation and for very substantial legal reform.

Highlights of 2010-2012

The advances of the period covered by today’s progress report, from 2010 to 2012, are remarkable by any standard.

In education, where new models of school patronage are responding to the increasingly visible diversity of the Irish population, GLEN and other Irish NGOs are leading the way with the Department of Education and Skills and the education partners on initiatives to combat homophobic bullying. This is work that is drawing attention across the EU and on the world stage, not least for its inclusiveness and for the degree to which the varied interests of stakeholders have been brought together forging a strong consensus for action for the welfare of our children and young people.

The principle of partnership and of drawing diverse stakeholders together for shared purpose which GLEN has deployed in its activities in the education field is characteristic of its engagements across all fields.

This period has seen practical advances in employment equality, involving major employers, business representative bodies and trade unions in the launch and application of diversity tools and good practice and extension of GLEN’s Diversity Champions Programme.

In healthcare, GLEN has continued to work with the HSE, professional bodies and with healthcare providers towards the mainstreaming of LGBT issues in healthcare, building on the recommendations of the landmark ‘Supporting LGBT Lives’ study of 2009. The pilot training programme on palliative care and oncology is but one such project.

Incrementally, these initiatives are contributing to a profound change in life experiences of LGBT people in Ireland and their families, friends, colleagues and neighbours.

Possibly the most visible progress has been in the recognition of relationships and protections for families, where developments are still ongoing. 2010 saw the enactment with all-party support in the Oireachtas of civil partnership legislation, its commencement and the first civil partnership ceremonies. One of the most encouraging signs of increasing openness and tolerance in Irish society has been the coverage given in local papers, the length and breadth of the country, to joyous celebration of civil partnerships by family, friends and neighbours.

This situation is by no means static. On 6 January this year, I announced details of further additions to the foreign partnerships recognised as equivalent to civil partnership in Ireland. Recent amendments to the Domestic Violence Act mean that the protection of the Act is now available on the same basis to unmarried opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples who have not registered a civil partnership. In addition, couples will no longer be required to have lived together for a minimum period before one of them can obtain a safety order.

Future developments in legislation

One of the gaps in the civil partnership legislation of 2010 is the failure to specifically address issues relating to parental rights of gay couples and the legal relationship of gay parents to children being parented by them, in circumstances in which the parents are parties to a civil partnership, or individuals cohabiting in an intimate and committed relationship.

We have made a commitment in the Programme for Government to reform and modernise our family law.

The rights of the child, and ensuring that in this area the best interests of the child are the paramount consideration, now has a firm constitutional basis in the new provisions contained in Article 42A of the Constitution. With a view to comprehensively addressing this area of the law, I am presently engaged in the preparation of a Family Relationships and Childrens Bill which I expect will be published in 2013 and which I hope will receive all –party support in the Houses of the Oireachtas and also the support of independent Members of both Houses. Same-sex couples have been good and effective foster parents and there is a need to reform and bring clarity to issues relating to parentage, guardianship and custody of children of gay couples and in doing so to frame a law which ensures, as the Constitution requires, that the best interests of children are the paramount consideration.

Keeping to the theme of legislative reform for a moment, I would like to briefly mention section 37 of the Employment Equality Act. While intended to provide in a balanced way for schools and other institutions to maintain their religious ethos, I am concerned that, in practice, the balance is not a fair one and that this provision can operate in a way that is unfair to LGBT persons. While I have some ideas on how reform might be approached, I am open to opinions on how to refine these ideas. I consider that an extensive consultative process and formal assessment of the options should be undertaken. It is therefore my intention to ask the new Irish Human Rights and Equality Commissioners to examine the issue as a priority and to report on their views and recommendations. I am committed to bringing forward Government proposals for any necessary anti-discrimination amendment to this provision once this consultation process is completed.

Civil marriage

Civil partnership is essentially marriage in everything but name. The law applicable to effecting a civil partnership,  and the ceremony celebrated, reflects the law applicable and the ceremonial of a registry office marriage.  I understand, however, the desire that it be recognised as marriage.
The present constitutional position is that if you wish to marry another person he or she must be of a different sex to you. A condition of human dignity and self-respect is the personal autonomy to pursue, on an equal footing with others, one's own conception of a full and rewarding life. I personally believe that a democratic republic that professes a commitment to the principle of equal citizenship should not continue to prevent same-sex couples from entering into a legal partnership that is legally recognised and designated as being a marriage. 

I am, of course, conscious that not every one shares my view on this important issue. As you know, the Programme for Government, contains a commitment to refer the issue  of same-sex marriage to the Constitutional Convention which commenced its detailed deliberations this weekend.  I look forward to receiving the views of the Convention and I have no doubt that Glen will set   out its views clearly to members of the Convention.  Should the Convention recommend the holding of a Referendum this is a matter that will be treated with the utmost seriousness by Government. 

Should there, at a future date, be a referendum on same-sex marriage, it is important to understand that the most important resource we have to defuse the fears of those who oppose same-sex marriage is calm, lucid reason.  I know that this is a resource that GLEN has in abundance. 

Combating homophobia and intolerance on a wider stage

It is a sad fact that homophobia and prejudice against transgender people remain a reality in Europe - sometimes expressed overtly in violence or in legislation, sometimes covertly. Let us be in no doubt that this represents an ongoing threat to the wellbeing of communities and of all citizens, whatever their gender, be they gay, lesbian, heterosexual, which must actively be challenged.

In Ireland we continue to make our own progress on this front. There is broad public support for gay pride events, which have never attracted the same level of opposition here as in some other States. This does not mask the fact that in our schools, our sporting events, our working and our social environments, a minority still feel they can, with impunity, launch into homophobic abuse of other individuals.

Respect for the fundamental rights of all under the Rule of Law is the bedrock of our Constitution, and of the shared values on which the European Union is founded. That this is an essential element of the compact we have all entered into on joining the EU is a point I have emphasised to my colleagues, Justice and Home Affairs Ministers from all EU Member States, at our Informal Council meeting in Dublin Castle on 17 January.

Last Tuesday, I spoke at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the European Parliament in Brussels and remembered that the victims also included the Roma, Sinti, Slavs, gay men, disabled persons, Jehovah witnesses and dissidents. I said it was a moral imperative that we unequivocally repudiate the reprehensible rhetoric of those who seek to contaminate our political discourse and attempt to inflame dangerous prejudice. We must do more under the Rule of Law to end intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism.

Ireland has been elected by the international community to the United Nations Human Rights Council. I am looking forward to developing the profile afforded by this role, and by the Irish Presidency of the EU, working with colleagues here in Ireland, across the EU and on the wider international stage, to combat homophobia across Europe and promote  tolerant societies which allow all citizens as equal citizens an opportunity to thrive. We cannot ask of other States what we are not prepared to do ourselves. We are prepared to lead by example.

In the context of the Irish Presidency of the EU, I have asked EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers how we can tackle this issue. Legislation is not enough; we must change minds and hearts. The essential challenge, in my view, is to fashion a holistic means by which Member States can share best practice, monitor standards and formulate appropriate recommendations and guidelines for action. My European colleagues supported my suggestion to ask the Commission to initiate a broad public debate with governments, civil society and citizens.  The Commission has agreed to come back during the course of 2014 with the results of this process and with a package of recommendations on a mechanism to promote the Rule of Law, as well as specific suggestions about what needs to be done next to improve protection of fundamental rights across Europe.

Conclusion

Walt Whitman in his poem ‘Song of Myself’ calls out: ‘Unscrew the locks from the doors! / Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!’ He is protesting against social barriers based on prejudice. He wants the winds of human solidarity based on equality to blow freely. He asserts the value of equal dignity for all, saying, ‘Whoever degrades another degrades me / And whatever is done or said returns at last to me’.

This commitment to equal citizenship is the password to a better future. It is the very password GLEN has invoked so eloquently in its 25 years.

I wish you success in re-energising our society’s commitment to equal dignity for all its citizens.

Thank you.

28 January 2013
ENDS