Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)

I am only too aware of the sensitive nature of this complex issue and of the split it has caused among the people of this country, but for too long previous Administrations have failed to deal with this issue, which is as relevant today as it was some years ago. I commend Deputy Clare Daly for bringing the matter before the House. I hope because other Deputies have done so that my commendation of her does not ring hollow.

When the Government was elected we made a commitment to the people that we would deal with this sensitive issue. We acknowledged the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, subsequent to the established ruling of the Irish Supreme Court in the X case. We promised to establish an expert group to address the issue and to make recommendations to Government on how this matter should be properly addressed.

As it currently stands, abortion in this country is illegal, except where it can be proven, as a matter of probability, that there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, and that this risk can only be averted by the termination of the said pregnancy. That is the X case judgment as interpreted by the Supreme Court. In 2009 the ABC case was heard in the European Court of Human Rights. Three women had argued that it was a breach of their rights that Ireland did not provide abortion for them. The court struck out two of the cases, citing no violation of rights had taken place, and in the case of the third applicant, Ms C, the court found that Ireland had failed to respect the applicant's private life, as there was no accessible and effective procedure to enable her to establish whether she qualified for a lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with Irish law. The court accepted that Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the X case, is the current standing by which other cases are judged.

In June last year the Government submitted a plan to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the ABC case and the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. In this plan there was a further commitment from the Government to establish an expert group, which would be made up of people from the appropriate medical and legal professions, and that it would be the findings of this group that would recommend where and how we should proceed. While I am pleased that the expert group is compiled of such skilled and educated professionals I hope they have spoken with or will speak with women who have physically suffered this particular trauma. Yesterday in Leinster House, with a number of other Deputies and Senators, I met some Irish women who had to go in the past to the UK for a termination. We heard their harrowing stories and what they had to go through. In the near future I hope there will be an end to those harrowing stories and that we will not have to hear them again.

The expert group was established last November and is to report back by the end of June. It would be inappropriate for the Government to pre-empt the recommendations of the expert group at this stage. We must ensure we end the practice whereby 12 women a day are forced to access procedures in the UK and elsewhere. These women who find themselves in a crisis situation are not statistics. They are our daughters, sisters, mothers and aunts, and we should not forget their partners either. All of those people are real, rational human beings caught up in an Irish solution to an Irish problem. We are being asked to legislate for a human tragedy. This is not like formulating other legislation. This requires the most careful drafting of legislation. If we are to learn lessons from the past the ensuing debate must be calm and rational because it is such an emotive issue.

As a woman, I do not like having to vote against the Bill which, perhaps, does not go far enough in drafting adequate legislation or guidelines on this issue. The best way to deal with it is not during Private Members' business but in a full session of the House. I hope Deputy Clare Daly will agree with me. In this case we should not pre-empt the findings of the expert group which may uncover something of importance. I advise that we await its report. That is the way I will be voting.

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