Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)

I had a quite technical speech written but will leave it alone. I will keep my head down because I feel so ashamed about the way the women in question have been treated. I ask the gentlemen in the Chamber to excuse me when I say I feel so strongly about this subject as a woman. Symphysiotomy was still carried out in 1984, only a year after I had a baby. To think I could have been subjected to the barbaric practice, with some sort of religious overtones or undertones, is frightening.

I accept the Minister's statement that it was believed the procedure was good at the time. However, one should consider the after care the women received. The procedure was carried out by intelligent people. My Government colleague has likened it to female genital mutilation. I would liken it to it also. Female genital mutilation, as with symphysiotomy, is a fundamental violation of women's human rights. Their civil liberties are being defiled, predominantly those associated with health, freedom of choice and the right not to be degraded.

A primary reason for the performance of female genital mutilation and symphysiotomy is related to sexual, health and religious concerns. Female genital mutilation is performed in Third World countries but we, who believe we are so modern, should realise symphysiotomy is very similar and was preformed in Ireland until 1984, which I consider to be very much in the recent past. Doctors chose to perform the procedure instead of caesarean sections.

Caesarean sections date from long before Julius Caesar, after whom the procedure is named. I have no idea, therefore, why symphysiotomy was reintroduced in 1944. The medical profession should have known about its dangers. Had practitioners opened their eyes, they would have seen the difficulties experienced by women who had the procedure. It is heinous.

I, too, would like all the answers. I urge the Minister to bring about closure regarding the horrendous practice and the way in which affected women have been left to one side. The Government is committed to achieving closure for the victims of symphysiotomy.

I heard harrowing stories last night, one of which was about a woman who had the operation performed on her when she was only 33. The procedure took away her mental health, her relationship with her husband and the relationship she should have had with her children. I feel really ashamed that symphysiotomy was carried out in what was deemed a modern country. I urge the Minister to do whatever must be done to bring about closure on this awful episode.

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