Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First and foremost, our side has never sought to interpret others’ views in any other way than they have presented them, yet on every occasion there is an interpretation given to these amendments that is not the reason for them.

Second, we have never been condescending to anybody with regard to the views that are validly held on the other side of this debate, and we have never name-called or been ignorant in any way with regard to this, because to do so is not in an effort to have debate but in an effort to close down debate. Closing down debate is in nobody's interest in this regard. We are entitled to represent the 34% of the people who voted no on this and the 20% of the people who voted yes but who do not agree with this Bill.

We also have a right to hold the Minister and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, and others to account on the commitments that they give on this issue.

The Minister mentioned that abortion is healthcare and is part of the healthcare provisions. Why then is it illegal to have an abortion in certain circumstances with a penalty of up to 14 years’ imprisonment? Is there any other healthcare provision that happens under proper supervision that has a 14 year prison sentence? This issue is different from other issues. We can dance around this point, left, right and centre, if we wish. We have had certain Deputies state that they want the line taken out stating that a termination of pregnancy is the ending of the life of a foetus because they are not comfortable with it, but that line is at the heart of this Bill. To ignore that line would mean we would have a euphemistic conversation about what is at the heart of this Bill. This is also a radical departure from where our health service was in the past. It is a different situation.

Also, the Minister mentioned that in some way we were trying to imply the father's responsibilities legally. We were not trying to imply that at all. It is disingenuous for anybody to seek that. I had a good debate with my colleague, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, on the parental notification issue for those under 16 years of age where we spoke about the exceptional circumstances that might arise where a minor has been raped by a family member. When we are dealing with Bills, we deal with not only the core majority of the people who will be dealt with in the Bill but with all of the different parameters that could arise.

Deputy Coppinger stated we are trying to force the woman concerned to pull the father in some way into the debate. The amendment does not have any responsibility in pulling the father in. All it does is provide factual information that exists with regard to the responsibilities. The reason being is that the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution found that the majority of abortions happen because of socio-economic reasons, because many women feel that they do not have the economic resources to continue with their pregnancy. We want to say that there are responsibilities with regard to those economic resources. Economic resources are important. I have spoken to many women who have said that despite the Minister being pro-choice, they felt they had no choice, because of the economic circumstances that they were in, but to proceed with an abortion. Indeed, 19 women last year who were homeless had babies. These types of economic issues radically affect the decisions that people take.

The Minister talks about DVDs. To be honest, the HSE provides information currently in DVD form. The HSE with which the Minister is involved presents health information now on DVDs. If the Minister did not know that, that is up to himself. We are merely saying that the information should be presented in a way that is easily consumable by people, such as in a digital format, by putting it on a memory stick, etc.