Rónán Mullen (Independent)
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I would like to speak against Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's motion and in support of Deputy Mattie McGrath's proposal that the committee recommend that Article 40.3.3° be retained in full. Article 40.3.3°, when passed in 1983, established Ireland as a beacon of human rights in this area. It took decisions on this life and death issue away from the political and judicial elites and has led to a situation where Ireland consistently has the best medical practice. Only today, we have news from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists which reminds us that Ireland is one of the safest places in the world in which to have a baby. Our figures are even better than those for Britain. We have seen how in country after country, when this issue was given over to politicians, there was a steady liberalisation of the law. Therefore, we are not just talking about a limited abortion regime but about an increasingly liberal one. In repealing the eighth amendment simpliciterthe people would be invited to trust that politicians would not continually liberalise the abortion regime more and more until we had a law similar to that in Britain, where four times as many abortions take place per year, per capita, according to the figures available to us. I strongly urge the committee to reject amendment No. 1 and support amendment No. 2.