Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Chair on her role in this committee. She has been very fair and it is not easy.

This is a very complex and divisive issue, we have a large body of work to do by mid-December and there are differing views among the members of this committee. I will take this opportunity to say there is great value in holding private session meetings. Some may dispute this, but I think there has been good value in them because there has been consensus and respect for those who spoke on motions to be put forward, for example, to repeal the eighth amendment. I am not in favour of that at this point because we have a process in which we need to engage and more witnesses to meet. The vote we took allows us to debate the substantive issues surrounding the eighth amendment, which is crucial. That is the work we need to do over the next few weeks and the witnesses who will come before us will help us. It was very interesting to hear members who had views already formed coming into this committee saying they had changed their minds on different issues. That is very healthy and just shows the importance of this process. Members feel they might understand a particular area and then they hear from witnesses and, through questioning them, open themselves up and learn more about that area. That is what is important about this process. We all have something to learn, and that is the importance of being here and engaging.

We have received legal advice in private session on the six options we have, and members have outlined a number of issues in this regard. Regarding the sixth option, when Ms Justice Laffoy was before the committee, she said her view was that the eighth amendment should be repealed and replaced with a provision conferring exclusive power on the Oireachtas to regulate the law in this area. In layman's language, this would involve repeal of the eighth amendment and the insertion of text into the Constitution stating that the Oireachtas shall have exclusive power to legislate in this area. As has been highlighted here - and it is very important to say this - members of the Citizens' Assembly looking at these proceedings will ask why we are not taking their views on board. The removal of judicial oversight would have many implications, and the only other precedent for it would be in times of war or armed rebellion. We need to look at our three branches of government: the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The intention is that they are all interdependent and that there is a balance of power. I do not know whether we need to write to Ms Justice Laffoy asking her whether that is her intention. I think she was seeking some kind of legal clarity whereby the law could not be challenged but I do not think there can be a situation whereby there will not be a challenge-----