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

I thank both witnesses for coming over here to attempt to educate us here in Ireland. Following Deputy Naughton's question, I was interested in how the Netherlands demystified human reproduction and conversations around sex. Have they any suggestions on how we might try to do that in this country? I am not sure how familiar they are with our legacy of incarcerating females in this country and the trade in illegitimate children to homes in Ireland and abroad. We have a damning history when it comes to women's rights. I agree with Senator Ruane that it probably stems from the hold of the Catholic Church on our State and our ovaries and all things related to sex. Have the witnesses any advice for us? I think that if I went to the Minister for Health and said I wanted a team of sexologists, he would say he would not know how to deal with that. The witnesses might be able to help us in that regard.

It seems to be very difficult for some people here to separate the moral from the medical, as the witnesses have surely seen from the questions put to them. We constantly hear conversations about the rights of the unborn child and that somehow, by removing the eighth amendment, women will take a turn at 36 weeks and say they do not even want a child, that they have changed their minds. Where did the moral pressure come from when the witnesses were doing this back in the day? Have they any advice for us on that?