Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

This move is wrong. I will not speak for women as it is not my job and there are enough women in the House who realise the implications of the decision for them. However, I can speak for fathers and grandfathers. This is the most disgraceful and inhuman decision that any country or any Government could make for their children. There are no children here tonight but if the matter concerned any other lobby group such people would be here. However, this concerns 12 year old children who are at home trying to prepare for Christmas exams. E-mails on the matter have been sent by some children. There is nothing wrong with this and I received 23 e-mails in the space of a couple of minutes.

The Government should not proceed with this decision. It puts the cost of the lives of our girls, and in my case my granddaughters, at €100,000 each. These are the hard facts. The Minister should get rid of whoever devised the budget as those people are a bunch of gombeens. The Minister could not have made this decision as no human being could devise such a budget and put the health of our children at risk, as well as putting education programmes and our agricultural sector in jeopardy. I call on anyone who is a father or grandfather in the House, and the Minister can do likewise for any women, to vote against the Government amendment. One can only be proud of Deputy James McDaid. He remained loyal to his party, but he knows what is right for the country. The Minister should withdraw the Government amendment.

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