Ms Marie O'Shea:

The Government's response to the report seemed to be premised on the idea that it would breach some contract it had with the electorate. I do not see that it had a contract with the electorate. I think the referendum was to repeal the eighth amendment and allow the Oireachtas to legislate for termination of pregnancy. In addition to that, the Oireachtas saw fit to put section 7 into the Act, which was to review the operation of the Act in three years. What was the purpose of doing that if the Taoiseach and Tánaiste regarded that as too short a time period to implement any changes that came out of it? That is my take on it. That is why I thought it was a bit disappointing and a bit of a bizarre thing to say.