Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sticking to the point of equal rights for all people, which applies to both mother and baby.

If somebody is elected by the people, whether it is to fix potholes in roads or not, they are entitled to be here. Just because somebody dispenses tablets, or something else, to people it does not mean they have a better right to be here. The people decide and they will decide in a referendum, if it comes. As far as I am concerned, the sooner it comes the better and I look forward to it.

The genie is out of the bottle as regards this committee because it is clearly biased. It shuts out women who have been hurt by abortion and it has shut out advocates whom we wanted to come before the committee. People have been bullied and harassed to prevent them from speaking on the subject at events in hotels. I came in here with a three-minute animated video of what an abortion entailed but the committee did not want it. It is all one-way traffic and our future participation will be limited because there is no point in being part of the committee. The committee was to be fair and have representatives from all sides and this was its badge of honour but, as I said, the genie is out of the bottle now.

I do not have much interest in the six options that have been put forward but I want to defend Senator Mullen. He did not want to stop democracy. We can decide if we do not want to meet in private session. I appealed for the meeting to be public but the media were locked out. The media contribute to transparency and openness so why should we do business behind closed doors?

The denial of human dignity to unborn children is anathema to what I stand for. I am proud of what I stand for and I have plenty of support for it. We have deadlines and we have said we must finish by Christmas but what is the indecent haste? We should listen to all the experts. The Chair said other people could come in but why would they? We have made the decision to repeal Article 40.3.3° so it is a charade. There was hostility towards us - it has been a better today - just because we were asking questions to which we needed answers. When it did not suit certain people in this committee, we were treated like pariahs. That is no way to run a committee in this House. I sit on several committees and this does not happen on any of them. I would love to know why this has to be so different. Human rights for the unborn have to be protected and I believe they will be protected.