Ireland has actually been in the 21st century for some 15 years ;)

This is a fantastic and wonderful change. The campaign against equal marriage rights was very dirty, making untrue claims and pulling on the heartstrings; typical poster slogans were "Two men can't replace a mother's love" and "For freedom of conscience, vote No" (with, universally, a heart in the 'O' of 'vote').

It is going to change Ireland; no, it hasn't instantly achieved full employment, paid off the national debt or made people equal, but it is such a change in attitude and fairness that it will absolutely change our Ireland, change the things we're proud of in Ireland, and the things we want, and the things we know we can achieve, and the things we do achieve.

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Now to answer some of the points of those seeking to quarrel above. My opinions are only mine here, and I will not be joining in any further discussion in this thread:

1) The priests who abused children did not attack "male youths" - this is a line pushed by the most conservative and enabling people in the Church. They raped little children, boys and girls; they terrified them by threats; they were helped in this by bishops who moved them from parish to parish when discovered; they brought children in and made them swear not to tell what had happened to them; a Vatican instruction told priests and bishops that all reports of these rapes must be kept within the Church and not reported to police.

2) I absolutely agree with the moderators here taking strong action to stop the childish tantrums and verbal abuse that has become almost the norm between certain posters. I don't agree with their methods. I would think it would be more apposite a) to remove abusive posts immediately when they appear, b) to ban (temporarily, then permanently if necessary) posters who post rudely, c) to stop 'guests' being able to post without being signed in. And as a temporary measure, d) to remove threads altogether when this happens. 'Thread creep' is always a problem with online forums; it has become particularly annoying here.