Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are in danger of straying and staying here until Christmas, the way we are going. I have just a couple of points. People are confused about why we are here. We are not drafting legislation; we are issuing guidance to the Oireachtas to draft legislation. The idea that some people raised, namely, that our vote on this would be misinterpreted as a statement that there should be terminations in cases of rape only up to 12 weeks, does not reflect what anybody is saying. A way of dealing with this is to take the vote on the Citizens' Assembly recommendation first. I would imagine that it will be carried on its own. It does not imply a restriction regarding any limit in cases of rape. We should then consider the motion on the period of 12 weeks without any restrictions as to reason. For some, a termination will be because of rape. For others, there will be other reasons. So be it; that is the motion. That will deal with the matter so we will not just be cutting off access to terminations in cases of rape at 12 weeks.