Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The line that I and my party have taken all along is that it should not be necessary to receive protection when seeking services that are legally available in the State. The inclusion of a right to protest as an answer to everything is not something we should go too far down the road with. It is correct that everybody has the right to protest. I know all about that; I did it myself. However, the point is that nobody has the right to protest to deter other people from going about their lawful work or relying on the services that are available within the State. The right to protest has to take equal cognisance of the right not to protest and to allow those who do not wish to protest to go about their work, thus not bringing the country or the system to a halt.

I have always held the view that if a woman wants to go to hospital to have her toenails attended to, she is entitled to do that and she does not have to cross any barrier or get any protection from anybody. She is entitled to that. These services are legally available in the State. If she goes to seek advice on pregnancy, she is entitled to do it, and that is there and provided for in the legislation before us. Pretending that we are in a state of siege and that we have to seek special protection in the way designated is, to my mind, a weakness and an overreliance on the right to protest being the superior right. It is not the superior right.