Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I too have serious reservations about the idea of bringing in legislation to more or less curtail people from expressing a view that they may have. It is important that we set ourselves back from this and look at what the Garda Commissioner has said. He said he has the legislation to protect people. Why are we bringing in more legislation for a specific purpose? What is that doing? What message is that sending to people who want to express an opinion? The Bill is being introduced for a specific purpose, namely to keep people away from places where abortions are being carried out.

The Minister said some of these issues relate to the Department of Justice. That is why I question why the Minister for Health is introducing the Bill to curtail people from exercising their democratic right to protest. We expect protesters outside the Houses tonight. Are we going to start banning everybody who does not agree with us? Where are we going with all of this? At the end of the day, the Minister can bring in all the legislation he likes, but we do not have the resources to enforce it.

There is something radically wrong. TII has proposed to introduce legislation to close lay-bys. We do not have the gardaí to enforce that. We are introducing more legislation in an attempt to say that we are doing something. In fact, we do not need this legislation in this country. It is something that concerns me greatly. We have spoken about freedom of expression. During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin was banned from being interviewed on radio and television. What purpose does that serve? This is a policy that is being blindly followed and we need to stand back from it.

Needless to say, the Bill will probably pass. It is something that is bringing our democracy back backwards rather than forwards. I ask the Government to consider where all of this will end up and why we are presenting a Bill for a particular issue. In what other cases will this Bill be used as a template? What precedent are we setting in trying to curtail democracy? It is something we have to consider very clearly.

When we talk about what is happening in the world today, such as what is happening in Ukraine and Gaza, people are exercised about all of the wrongs that are being done, how people are not being allowed to express their views, democracy not being allowed and all of that. We have a good and thriving democracy, but we are beginning to build legislation that will erode the thriving democracy we have and we should be proud of. I ask the Minister to consider the purpose of the Bill. When the Garda Commissioner says he does not need this legislation to deal with any issues that arise, it is important that we listen to him.

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