Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will resist the urge to respond to allegations that have been made against me as Chair other than to say that all decisions of the committee were made by it as a whole. A roadmap was agreed at the beginning which most members bought into and worked on diligently. We must be very careful not to give the impression that our work here is done. There is still a large amount to do and as much of it as possible will be transparent and public. It is important to say that the committee has not finished its work.

I very much appreciate all the positive comments that have been made toward me. As regards my attendance at a meeting of committee D of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, I take my parliamentary duties seriously and was on that committee before it decided to discuss the topic of abortion. I resisted abortion being discussed at the committee because I thought it was bad timing, to say the least. I was very happy to have the opportunity to hear from certain witnesses from whom I did not hear at this committee. I make no apology to anyone for doing my parliamentary duty on behalf of the people of this State. I travelled to the United Kingdom to hear views I could not hear at this committee. I was glad to do so and apologise to no one in that regard.

It is important that we do not lose sight of the report and recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly, a key part of which was constitutional change, but much effort was also made on the form that legislation should take. We must be clear on the extent to which we want a lawful regime. We do not want to hold up a referendum. It is very important that we issue a clear instruction to the Oireachtas and report to it on what the heads of the legislation should be. I am not alone in that belief as most members hold that opinion. We would not be doing our job as a committee if we did not report in a full way.

I know members are in a hurry because of a vote in the Dáil. We will come back to the issue at the beginning of the next meeting as regards-----