Ireland Moves to Legalise Gay Sex By Diane Bailey For The Pink Paper, London On the evening of Tuesday 18th May, the cabinet of the Republic of Ireland decided to introduce legislation to legalise sex between gay men and introduce an age of consent for gay men equal to that for heterosexuals. At seventeen this will be the highest common age of consent in Europe, but it will shame Britain's discriminatory limit of 21 for gay men. Lesbians are already covered by the consent laws. The legislation is expected to be introduced and passed through the Irish parliament (the Dail) within weeks. Ultimately the move is the outcome of the country being condemned in the European Court of Human Rights in a case brought by the now Senator, David Norris. But moves to implement the required change had to wait the formation of the current coalition government. Ireland is the last country in western Europe where gay sex is completely illegal. Suzie Byrne, lobbyist for the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, reports that Justice Minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn took only the one option to the cabinet and received the full support of her colleagues. "She now has to sell it to the government's supporters in the Dail," she continued, exultantly, "but with a large majority, in Irish terms, that should not be too difficult. The right-wing in the country will make a huge fuss but they are powerless now. Ireland is going to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the the twentieth century." Ends