Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I do not interrupt anyone. Deputy O'Connell knows that. The Chairman said at the beginning of the process that this committee would not repeat any of the work of the Citizens' Assembly and then proceeded to invite 12 of the same witnesses who appeared before the assembly. I lay that charge with the Chairman. She made that statement on the record and then invited 12 groups that appeared before the Citizens' Assembly. The Chairman also said at the outset that only experts would be invited to the hearings and that no advocacy groups on either side would be invited. However, pro-abortion advocacy groups such as the Irish Family Planning Association, the New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights and the largest abortion group in the UK, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, were all invited. How does that square with the Chairman's statement?

In contrast, not a single one of the numerous families who say their owe their lives and the lives of their children to the eighth amendment were ever invited to present. That is really incredible when one thinks about it - all those stories from families who nearly aborted their children but did not do so because, as they say, the time it took to prepare to travel to England was the time they needed to change their minds. To think that the committee has not heard a single one of these stories is inexcusable, not to mention all the other areas it has not considered from contemporary models of adoption - and we cannot discuss adoption here at all - to putting better supports in place for women experiencing unexpected pregnancies. All of the focus has been on abortion and putting the eighth amendment on trial rather than having an honest and open examination of the issue that also focuses on all that is positive about the amendment. It is impossible to argue with pro-life supporters who say this committee is irredeemably broken and has lost all credibility.

I would like to state one more thing for the record. The Chairman and others claim that they asked pro-life members of this committee to submit names at the outset, and that we supposedly only came up with six or seven. The truth is that we made it very clear back at the start that we believed it to be the collective responsibility of the committee and the secretariat to actively pursue a balance in this regard.

How much time do I have left? I have more to say but the members obviously do not want to hear it. I take grave offence at Deputy Rabbitte, who has now left, and at Senator Ned O'Sullivan coming in here and reading out Fianna Fáil press releases. At its recent Ard-Fheis Fianna Fáil voted overwhelmingly to keep the eighth amendment and yet now it sends party members in here to attack us. Deputy Lisa Chambers-----