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

On the age of consent issue, I have always tried to explain that we are happy to effect some changes to some of the content in these particular amendments.

The age of consent is 18 for abortion in many countries including Germany, Spain and 21 other countries in the western world. It is not something we would necessarily have a massive difficulty with if a change was sought. This amendment seeks to provide information. Information should be neutral. It should not be determining whether a person is pro-choice or pro-life. Information should be separate from what side a person is on, as long as it is medically factual. If Deputy O'Connell has a particular medical problem with it, we are again happy to sit down to finesse the particular amendments to fix that, if it is necessary.

It has been said that this is an effort to force information. It is an offer of information. It is a choice for a person to accept or decline that particular offer. The logic is if we dressed up the legislation in choice, adding an additional choice to the legislation would also be a positive thing to do.