Friends,
It is great to see so many of you from Dublin West and beyond gather here this evening for this important forum on the marriage equality referendum.
In particular, I want to welcome our guests.
Katherine Zappone is someone I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years.
She has been an inspiration to people for her work on a range of issues.
On the issue of women’s rights, through her work as a former Chairperson of the National Women’s Council.
On community activism, through her founding of the education and training centre An Cosan in West Tallaght.
And on the issue that brings us here tonight – introducing marriage equality so that same sex couples are treated equally under the Constitution and the law.
And it is in no small part through Katherine’s campaign to have her marriage to her wife Ann Louise Gilligan recognised here in Ireland that we have this referendum on 22nd May.
To Katherine and Ann Louise I offer my sincere thanks for all the work that you have done to advance this cause.
The Labour Party has also been to the fore in the campaign to deliver marriage equality.
This Sunday we will formally launch our referendum campaign in central Dublin.
Getting to this point has been the culmination of work by many people in this party over many years.
One such person who has come to the fore in recent times has been my colleague and TD for the neighbouring constituency of Dublin North West, John Lyons.
When John speaks about the need for marriage equality and what it means for gay and lesbian people in Ireland we know it comes from the heart.
John has a particular and unique appeal to women of a certain generation – or even, all generations – and, no doubt, quite a few men.
And I hope he uses all his charm, personality, and persuasion to get as many of them as possible to vote Yes on 22nd May.

Friends, a few weeks ago we marked the 99th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
Debating the merits or otherwise of the Rising, its legacy, and the most appropriate means of commemorating it, are matters that are currently generating much debate.
For me, equality was a driving force of the leaders of the Rising.
For them, they wanted to move Ireland from being an unequal part of the UK to a free and independent country in its own right.
They also asserted personal freedoms and equality in the Proclamation itself, where they referred to providing “civil liberty, equality, and equal opportunity” for Irish people.
Indeed, in his recently published book on the 1913-1923 revolutionary period, “A Nation and Not a Rabble”, the historian Diarmaid Ferriter directly ascribes this passage of the Proclamation to the first leader of the Labour Party, James Connolly.
So, from our earliest days, the Labour Party has been a party of equality.
It is one of the reasons many of us here tonight joined the party and are proud to call ourselves Labour Party members.
From campaigning for the rights of women, the rights of families to adequate healthcare and housing, to more recent campaigns on the right to re-marry and the right to contraception, Labour has been to the fore of equality and social change in Ireland.

Campaigns for equality continue to this day. And campaigning to provide marriage equality for all people under our Constitution is the cause that brings us here.
In four weeks from tomorrow, on Friday May 22, Ireland could become the first country in the world to pass marriage equality by a popular, national vote.
Other countries have passed laws to allow same sex marriages.
It has happened in Great Britain, in Canada, in France, in Spain and Argentina to mention just a few.
In each of these countries, the decision was made by the national parliament on behalf of the peoples of those countries.
Ireland is different. Any decision on a matter like this has to be submitted to the people by way of national referendum before the Dail and Seanad can approve.
In Ireland, the decision on marriage equality will be made for the people by the people.
That is as it should be.

But this decision is not about abstract rights or legal entitlements. It is about people and people’s lives.
We must remember the young couple whose future together in this country may hang in the balance of our decision.
We must remember the children and the teenagers who are seen as “different” in the schoolyard and the classroom.
And who need a gesture from us that what they feel, and who they are, is as natural and normal as anyone else.
We must remember the mothers, fathers and guardians across the country who want to see their children – all their children – have the opportunity to build a life with the person they love.
By coincidence, the debate in Ireland on marriage equality will get into full swing just as critical arguments on the same topic will be presented to the US Supreme Court.
That court is due to hear a definitive case on April 28th.
And it is noteworthy that major American companies – many of whom have a big role in the Irish economy as well – have come together to urge the US Court to give its approval to same sex marriage in every state of the union.
I would not be surprised if some of their arguments on the value of diversity gain traction in the Irish debate.
The argument they make is that a diverse, inclusive environment increases the total human energy available to a society as a whole or to an individual company.
People can bring far more of themselves to their jobs and to their roles in society when they are not required to suppress their identity.
Inclusive societies, in turn, are more open to new ideas and opportunities.

I believe then that the gay marriage referendum is genuinely a watershed moment in Irish history. Marriage is one of the most cherished institutions in our culture.
We cherish it because it sets out to establish a stable bond between two individuals, which strengthens them as a couple and strengthens all of society as a result.
I rejoice in the idea that people, who happen to be gay, want to participate in this vital social institution.
It is something that ought to be supported and celebrated.
A socially-just society is not a destination that can ever be reached overnight.
The truth is, if we want a more equal space in which to live, we must be prepared for a hard slog.
Tackling the changing faces of inequality one day after another until we can fashion real and measurable change in the lives of our people is no simple or straightforward task.
This referendum represents the culmination of a decades-long struggle by activists both inside and outside the LGBT community.
It symbolises a vital step forward in a global movement: where countries across the world are choosing to treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans citizens as equals.

As I said previously, this referendum also marks an important step in the journey of the Labour Party.
We have supported the cause of LGBT rights in Ireland for many years. We were proposing marriage equality when others were still being won over to civil partnership.
We have been ahead of the curve on this for a long time.
It is now our special responsibility, as the party of inclusion and progress, to ensure we do our utmost to guarantee the greater part of Irish society is with us on polling day.
Allowing people to be treated equally under the Constitution is the strongest statement we can make as a people and as a country.
Our cause is right, and we will lead from the front. I want May 23 to be a day of joy, a day of celebration, a day of pride in our country.
I want it to be a day when we can all share in the individual happiness of people whose lives will be changed by the vote of the people.

We have work to do to help to make this happen. Let us, each and every one of us, play our part.