Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the witnesses and thank them for their very interesting contributions. One of the phrases very strongly used by the people who genuinely are proponents of this legislation is that there is no new law and no change in legislation. I believe that was said by the Taoiseach in Boston yesterday. As I believe Ms Simons has already addressed the matter, I direct my question to Mr. Brady. Does he believe new law is being proposed? Does he believe this is a change in legislation? If so, what are those changes?

Among all the interesting documentation we have received and read, sometimes one little sentence will jump off the page. Dr. Mills made a very fine contribution this morning in addressing head 19. His submission contained the following statement, on which we need to reflect and on which I have a question: "To claim that such terminations ... are not intentional destructions of the foetus is a legal ... fiction." That is important. I fully agree with him that claiming it is not intentional destruction is a legal fiction. How does the proposed legislation stand regarding the constitutional right to life of the unborn?