Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the spirit of the amendment. It is unfortunate language to insert and we are pulling the language of the eighth amendment into the legislation. However, the Minister has laid out the legal and medical advice. If the constitutional lawyers, drafters and medics are telling us that this is what is needed to make the legislation legally and medically robust, and critically provide much needed clarity to the doctors, then so be it. I, therefore, do not support amending the provision for those reasons. It is a pity that other language that could have been equally robust legally, and provided as much clarity could not have been found. Unfortunately, it does still sound like we are pulling some of the language into the legislation. The Minister has laid out a reasonable medical and legal argument for why we, unfortunately, need to keep it as it is. This exact language was in the heads of the Bill. Of course we will all have different views as to what the people of Ireland voted for. There is no different view as to what the heads of the Bill were because they are black and white and this language is in the heads of the Bill as well.