Mr. David Manley:

I would like to deal with Senator Crown's question, which I thought was very important. Why is there so much emphasis on the question of suicide? In my opinion, it is not because of numbers, slippery slopes or floodgates. It is because if legislation were passed it would allow, for the first time in Irish law, the life of an unborn child to be directly and exclusively taken. In our Constitution we have given that unborn child the right to life, equal to the mother, equal to yours and mine. How can a law permit such an injustice? That is the problem.

The 30 cases of abortion that were mentioned raise the whole difficulty of using the right words. The obstetricians who talked about their work on the first day, spoke of their efforts to deal with two patients. Whatever intervention they had to make when heart trouble or cancer threatened the life of the mother, their efforts were always to preserve and save the life of the mother and, as far as possible and practical, to preserve the life of the child. That is not an abortion.

An abortionist in London has only one thing to do and that is to take away the life of the unborn child. That is the only thing, and if he fails to do that, he will lose his job.

Somebody asked - I have forgotten who it was - if we trusted our doctors and nurses. Yes, of course I do and all the people I know do also. I also trust our local gardaí, my son's teachers, and county councillors. Do I trust the politicians? Well, the kindness-----