‘Taking part in Belfast Pride? It’s about showing my support for equality’

LEO Varadkar has said his attendance at a gay pride event in Belfast is not an attempt to unsettle anyone who holds a different view on same-sex marriage.

The Taoiseach said he fully accepts the issue of whether gay marriage should be introduced in Northern Ireland was entirely the responsibility of its own politicians.

But Mr Varadkar said he wanted to attend the Belfast Pride breakfast event this morning to demonstrate his support for equality.

He also hailed the news that uniformed PSNI officers and gardaí would be taking part in Belfast’s Pride parade for the first time.

‘I will be attending the Pride breakfast tomorrow morning and am I doing that not in an attempt to unsettle anyone,’ he said.

The Fine Gael leader, who won’t be able to attend the parade itself as he will be at the senior football quarter-final between Dublin and Monaghan in Croke Park, added that he fully accepts marriage equality is an ‘issue to be dealt with by the Assembly if and when it is up and running’.

He added it is his intention to ‘express my support and that of my Government for equality before the law and individual freedom for all citizens, just as I would in any other part of the world’.

‘I think it is a really positive sign that for the first time the PSNI and gardaí will be marching in uniform at the Pride parade which I understand is the biggest single parade, the biggest single march happening in Northern Ireland this year.

‘I think that is very significant and it talks about a very different Northern Ireland and perhaps that gives us hope as to what Northern Ireland might look like in the future.’