‘Champion of equality and diversity’ David Norris to retire from Seanad in January

Tributes have been paid to long-time senator and veteran gay rights campaigner David Norris, who has confirmed he will retire from the Seanad in January.

Mr Norris revealed his plan to retire after 36 years in Leinster House in an interview with Trinity News.

The one-time presidential candidate is currently a member of the Seanad Independent Group.

He is the current longest serving senator, a position known as ‘Father of the House’.

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Mr Norris was the founder of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform and was the first openly gay person elected to public office in Ireland.

He is credited as being instrumental in the abolition of Ireland’s anti-homosexuality law following a campaign involving court cases that lasted for more than 14 years.

The law was finally overturned in 1993.

In the Seanad on Tuesday Independent Senator Michael McDowell paid tribute to Mr Norris and the legal action he took saying he “fought his battle very valiantly”.

He suggested the Seanad mark Mr Norris’s impending retirement at a future date and said that for now he wanted to express “my deep sense of friendship, and gratitude and loyalty to a member of my group”.

Cathaoirleach of the Seanad Jerry Buttimer said it would be appropriate to set aside time at a future date for tributes to Mr Norris who he described as a “champion of equality and diversity”.

He said Mr Norris took his court case “when it wasn’t popular, when it was a minority viewpoint” and he praised his “courage”.

Mr Buttimer added: “He is a person I have admired from afar and working with him in this House.

“He has been a huge help to me in my political life and in my personal life and many of us in the LGBT community owe Senator Norris a debt of gratitude that words could not adequately cover.”

Mr Buttimer said: “Our Seanad and the Houses of the Oireachtas will be a poorer place with his retirement.”

Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne also paid tribute to Mr Norris but said: “as he hasn’t informed the Clerk officially, there may yet be time to persuade him to change his mind.

“And in fact, some of the deserved glowing tributes might do that.”

[ David Norris on 40 years of saving North Great George’s Street ]

[ Ireland’s first Pride parade, 40 years ago: ‘We had to suffer the beatings, the spittings, the jeerings, just for the right to walk down the street holding hands’ ]

He supported the setting aside of time to acknowledge “not just his contribution to this Chamber but indeed to Irish life generally.”

Fine Gael Senator Aisling Dolan noted that Mr Norris is a “Joycean scholar” and said he brought “so much colour” to the Seanad.

Mr Norris plans to split his time between Cyprus and Dublin once he retires from the Seanad.

His decision will trigger planning for a by-election in the University of Dublin constituency - which has an electorate is made up of graduates of Trinity College Dublin.

A by-election must be called within six months of a retirement from the Seanad.

Any new Senator will likely have a very brief time in the Seanad as a general election is due to take place, at the latest, by March 2025.