Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I thank Ms Justice Laffoy, Ms Finegan and Ms Hynes for their work and also the members of the Citizens' Assembly for the work they did on behalf of the men and women of Ireland.

First off, I have a couple of questions. They lend themselves pretty much to "Yes" or "No" answers. In Ms Justice Laffoy's view, given that the assembly members were required not to have taken a public position on the subject of abortion such as having a history of participating in public actions, would it be fair to say that the assembly mainly comprised people without very strong views on either side of the spectrum? That is my first question.

It has been suggested by some people that the citizens of the assembly were somehow misled into voting as liberally as they did. What would Ms Justice Laffoy say to that accusation?

Deputy Kelleher has asked what would have been my third question, so I will not repeat it. Therefore, my third question is as follows. This is the first time in Ireland that we have been speaking about having free access to abortion. In Ms Justice Laffoy's view, is that because the conversation on abortion has so far been lacking? Does she think that Government has a responsibility to educate the public to the same level that the citizens of the Citizens' Assembly were educated?

Do we have a duty as a Government to educate? Somebody brought up an education programme earlier. What are Ms Justice Laffoy's views on something like that?

Is it her view that the citizens in the assembly thought the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was a good basis to work off? What were their views on that? Did the Act lead to distrust among the citizens about letting politicians legislate for abortion? What in Ms Justice Laffoy's view persuaded the two thirds majority to vote in favour of access to abortion without restriction as to reasons in early pregnancy? How do we come to a point where the majority favoured unrestricted access in the first trimester? Why did a high proportion of the Citizens' Assembly vote for access to abortion on socio-economic grounds? In inviting groups to present before the assembly, like the Guttmacher Institute and BPAS, Ms Justice Laffoy and the secretariat were accused of bias. She dealt with this ably in her remarks. What lessons does she have for the committee from that experience, as we are likely to be hearing from groups like that? Does she have any advice to us about accusations that might be made against us?