Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

All Members of the House have, in good faith, demonstrated their sympathy and regrets about the tragic death of Savita. However, as other Members have said, it is disappointing that Sinn Féin put down this motion, given its nature. Parliamentarians must be careful, regardless of where they sit in the House. When somebody's life is ended in the way this woman's was we should be very careful in this House, given our track record, about double speaking or hypocrisy on this issue. I am disappointed with Sinn Féin, particularly as there are some things on which I agree with Sinn Féin, although there are many on which I disagree.

I was involved in the 1993 campaign and, above all, the campaign in 1983, when people's names were read from pulpits, one was spat at on the street and it was brought up with one's children in school. Not many heads came up out of the clay during the 1983 campaign. That included Sinn Féin, and in the 20 years since it has never featured in any of that party's campaigns. Now there is an opportunity for Sinn Féin and others to make a cheap headline, because it is available, and to condemn the Labour Party for not bringing forward legislation. The Sinn Féin Members can go ahead and do that, but we should be clear about one issue. Legislation on this issue was contained in the manifesto of just one party in the recent general election, the Labour Party, and it was referenced three times.

The Labour Party has nothing to apologise for on this issue. We have been ready and willing to deal with it since 1993. The only problem is that we did not have 83 votes to pass the legislation. That is the nuts and bolts of it. Others, including Sinn Féin, are responsible for the situation in which we now find ourselves. In fact, if Sinn Féin had been negotiating a programme for Government last year, as we were, that programme would have contained no commitment to deal with this issue because it was not in that party's manifesto. It was in ours.

The Government will deal with this issue, as is stated in the amendment. It will be dealt with, as the Minister said, in the deliberations next Tuesday and there will be no dodging the issue. The Minister has made that clear. The full report of the expert group will be published and we will then see who stands where on this issue. However, let there be no doubt about where the Labour Party stands. No woman whose life is threatened by an unhealthy pregnancy should be allowed to die.

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