Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is just an observation. I just found it unusual.

I will focus on the comparison with polling stations. I have been warned by gardaí many times about activity near polling stations, particularly in the early days of the implementation of the legislation. Contrary to what Ms McMahon said, there was not a general understanding that one could not canvass or poster within 50 m of a polling station. As a political activist, I have been warned about that quite a few times, as have many of my supporters. Gardaí are on the ball and really quick to tell you that you are not to distribute leaflets, have discussions or put up posters within the 50 m. They are very proactive about it. The idea that signage would be needed around St. James's Hospital, which I live near, around the Coombe Hospital, where I used to work, or around a doctor's clinic is just nonsense. We need to get to a point at which people understand that they are not allowed to intimidate women or pregnant people, carry those signs, shout those remarks at them or say the rosary within 100 m of a healthcare giver. I assume that when the witnesses repeatedly talk about competing rights, they are talking about the right to protest versus the right to access healthcare. To that end, I do not know whether or not gardaí can change this on the PULSE system, but calling anti-abortion protests pro-life protests is insulting. I am pro-life. I am for the right of women to live in the manner they choose. Calling such protests pro-life in an official way is a practice that should be changed.

They need to be called something else but not something that intimates that the rest of us are anti-life. They should be called anti-choice protests or whatever but they should not be called pro-life in an official way or be recorded in that manner. However, I do think we-----