Irish Aids Day 2026: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17 ============================================================ Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel I welcome the Minister of State and acknowledge the presence earlier of the Minister for Health and her officials for statements on Irish AIDS Day. I was really pleased to put in a request to have this discussed in the Seanad. I thank the Seanad Office for facilitating this. I had met representatives of the HIV Prevention Alliance in relation to this matter and they asked me what I could do. One thing was to have a debate and statements because raising awareness is important. It is important that those of all parties and none speak out on this issue and on sexual health in general in this country. Today is an opportunity to remember those we have lost, to stand with those living with a HIV diagnosis and to reflect on the progress Ireland has made and the challenges that still remain. For many, HIV is associated with the fear and uncertainty of the 1980s and 1990s, which many Senators have spoken about so eloquently today. We remember those years and the people who were lost during the AIDS epidemic. We remember the partners, families, friends and carers who stood by their loved ones through extraordinary hardship, often at a time when stigma and silence compounded their suffering. I want to remember some people in particular who led out the response in Ireland at the time, including Christopher Robson, Bill Foley, Ciaran McKinney and Mick Quinlan, among many others. I cannot name all of them. I also acknowledge our former colleague David Norris, with whom, unfortunately, I did not get to serve, and all the work he did over many decades in raising awareness and breaking down barriers and stigma in Ireland and across the world. We also remember those whose stories never got told and the families, partners and friends who supported loved ones through all the difficult years – those who remained invisible throughout. I think it is important that we bring their plight to light now that we have the opportunity. The story of HIV in Ireland is about activism, resilience and compassion. It did not happen by accident. Progress does not happen by accident and progress can be rolled back as well. We need to remember that always. We need to keep pushing forward with progress. It happened because people living with HIV, healthcare workers, campaigners, community organisations, ordinary people, families and friends stood up. They refused to accept silence, stigma and exclusion. I thank them for their courage and for continuing in this regard today. Thanks to extraordinary advances in medicine, HIV is no longer the diagnosis it once was. People living with HIV now, when diagnosed early and even with a later diagnosis if they have access to treatment, can live long, healthy and full lives. We know that people who are undetectable cannot transmit HIV sexually, nor can they pass it on during pregnancy. This message has been said already today, but we can never say it enough: U=U, or undetectable equals untransmittable. This has transformed lives and it should continue to do so. It is one of the greatest public health success stories of our time. We have to acknowledge that. It is a huge public health and medical success story. Science has advanced, but stigma has not completely disappeared. Education remains so important. Public understanding needs to keep pace. I acknowledge the visitors in the Gallery today. I acknowledge organisations such as Outhouse, HIV Ireland, Teach Solais, Dundalk Outcomers, LINQ, Gay Project in Cork and sexual health centres all across the country for the work that they do. I also acknowledge people like Ger Philpott, who has documented and preserved the experiences of our own LGBTQ+ community at a time when many stories went untold. I thank advocates such as Robbie Lawlor and Enda McGrattan, better known as Veda Lady, who continue their work through Poz Vibe. Through advocacy and public engagement, they have created visibility and community for people living with HIV in this country and are breaking down the stigma and barriers. I also want to acknowledge the great Panti, whose voice has done so much to advance conversations around dignity and inclusion in Ireland in relation to this matter. Looking to the future, I welcome the comments from the Minister for Health on progress. I particularly welcome the opt-out HIV testing pilots under way at St. James's Hospital and other locations across the country. The initiative needs to be rolled out nationally. We need greater awareness when it comes to HIV among women. There is a huge misconception about who HIV affects. It can affect anybody in society and does not discriminate. Women make up a growing cohort of people living with HIV in Ireland and this absolutely needs to be publicised. We need more public awareness in relation to this because many women, unfortunately, may not perceive themselves to be at risk when in reality the opposite is the case. We need to continue to support public awareness campaigns and a health-led approach. I would welcome any update from the Minister of State on the implementation of our sexual health strategy, efforts to reduce late diagnosis, the future of opt-out testing and the steps being taken to tackle HIV-related stigma across our healthcare system and wider society. My colleague Deputy Maria Sherlock, the Dáil Labour Party spokesperson on health, will be hosting a briefing in July in the audiovisual room in relation to this issue. We need to commit ourselves to continuing to challenge public attitudes, promote awareness and improve public policy. We need to keep progressing and speaking about this matter as much as we can whenever we get the opportunity as public representatives. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-17