John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

His stunt worked and added a few percentage points to his personal vote. No doubt he hopes this stunt will have the same effect. However, this is qualitatively different. While having a go at Fianna Fáil might be regarded as opportunistic, its effect is not permanent or pernicious. This latest attempt by the Minister disturbs me greatly because the long-term effects of this political manoeuvring could be quite profound. As appears to be part of the ploy, the Minister has persisted in almost taunting the Opposition to "come on if you are hard enough". This approach deserves to be resisted.

If the motives for the referendum are flawed, then the concept is flawed. The Minister has offered very few facts to prove his case. His colleague, the Tánaiste, was left floundering on "Morning Ireland" when she was forced to admit that no consultation had taken place with the Opposition or the parties in Northern Ireland. A period of time will provide the space for consultation and the opportunity to examine the facts. It would also allow us to debunk some of the myths that surround this issue. We now know that no consultations took place.

Despite earlier claims by the Minister, we know that the masters of the maternity hospitals did not ask for a referendum. We also know there is a problem in our maternity hospitals. However, we do not know how much of this can be attributed to so-called "citizen tourism". Our maternity hospitals are in a mess — a problem to which I have frequently referred in this House when asking the Minister for Health and Children to address it. In 1973 there were 108 maternity units in the country. There are now 22 such units with plans to close a further ten. This is the problem. We cannot simply blame the people coming to the country — they do not cause the problem. The problem was caused by the Government, which has not invested in the health service. It is easy for members of the Government to now claim it is the immigrants' fault.

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