Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Some Deputies have called our Bill scurrilous and that they are disappointed we tabled it. It is absolutely scurrilous that we are back here again and I am disappointed with the Government's reaction. Much of what has been said could be summed up as excuses, excuses. When we were here in April, the Government told us we would have to wait for the report of the expert group. In April, Savita Halappanavar was not yet pregnant but now the woman is tragically dead. This time we are told the Government needs time to read the report when the whole country read it in last weekend's Sunday newspapers.

Even if they did not, we have to face it that it is not that complicated. It is a 58-page straightforward report with many diagrams and pictures. That is not out of any disrespect to those who wrote this report. The reason we make this point is that it is patently obvious that we have to legislate. This was the outcome of all the other previous expert groups and that is reality. We are not proposing to take up the opportunity of legislation tonight but to have 20 hours of discussions about it in the coming days. As the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, said last night, a woman has had a legal right - he called it clear and unambiguous – to have an abortion where her life is in danger including a risk from suicide. Women have had that right for 30 years, yet during this time women have not been able to exercise that right because of the successive failures of this House to legislate for it.

It is not petty point-scoring but last week the Opposition supported a call for legislation in this area and tonight we provided it. We are not saying it is perfect but it is a start. Failure to make the start tonight means inevitably this legislation will be delayed for another six months. Is there another woman who is not pregnant now but who may find our six-month delay has tragic consequences for her down the line?

We have had to listen to quite a few excuses tonight. I take offence at Members from Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party who lectured us about being divisive and that we need to get 83 votes to get this through. If those two parties supported us for a start, we would be well on the way to getting 83 votes for the Bill. What is their point? What are they hiding behind? The Government pleads with us to withdraw it, saying we are being divisive. We are not. We are offering our Bill to the House to make it the collective property of all of us and to send a signal to women, the Irish people and the people of Europe that we as a Parliament will begin to take action on a matter we have ignored for so long.

It is all very well for Ministers to claim they have a roadmap for action. We have had this map for some time. What we need is the car's ignition to be turned on. The problem is there has been a huge amount of talk rather than action. It is regrettable the Government will not allow this Bill pass Second Stage. On this, as well as several other issues, this House is out of touch with people in society. We have had an outpouring of emotion with ordinary citizens demanding we take action as they are sick of us talking about it. I received one e-mail from a woman who described herself as a mother, a daughter, a woman who has been through a life-threatening pregnancy that resulted in abortion. She told me she protested for the first time since she was in college as she never felt so moved to stand up and be counted in her life. She has just had her second child, a beautiful baby girl, and this is not what she wants for her or her country, for which she is usually proud. Another woman wrote to me, "As a woman with grown-up children, I thought I had lost the urge to fight. Well I am telling you now, I have refound it". Another women wrote, "I want legislation. Please do this for me, for the child I am carrying, for my grandchildren who one day will be Irish".

Irish people have evidently moved on with regard to this issue. What this discussion really shows is that the campaign to repeal the eight amendment to the Constitution starts here tonight. Let me say this to Deputy Keating who could not be bothered to stay to listen to the debate: it is not about just removing the eight amendment but to provide for legislation for free, safe and legal abortion in this country. That is not walk-in, walk-out abortion. What an insult to women and their doctors to describe all the many and difficult reasons that women face when choosing whether to have an abortion. Many of these reasons are complicated; all are valid. How dare Deputy Keating slander women in this regard. Against the backdrop of increased austerity, our delay on this matter will jeopardise more lives. People will not have the money for the boat or the plane to go to England and will be forced to resort to emergency medication as described by Deputy Halligan.

I am embarrassed our Bill could only legislate for the X case. It gave us the start to do that, however. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, correctly last night said that even if this legislation is passed or the Government comes up with legislation in six months' time, we will still have one of the most restrictive abortion regimes in the world. We will still not be dealing with the thousands of women who every year have to leave this country for an abortion. We will not be providing for those who become impregnated because of rape or incest or for women with fatal foetal abnormalities. The Minister for Justice and Equality described this as an indefensible cruelty.

However, the Minister in his reply to this Bill, put his hands up in the air stating this is a not a matter for government. If it is not, then for whom is it a matter? The Minister with responsibility for equality said women are not equal as they have a limited right to health and bodily integrity. That is not enough in a modern civilised society. The people in every corner of this country will not tolerate women being treated in this way. The reason we are treated in this way is because of this clause in the Constitution, which restricts our right to health.

We know our Bill tonight is only the first step but it is a necessary one to deal with this long overdue issue. We are not bringing abortion into Ireland. Irish abortion already exists for thousands of women every year. What we are asking for is an end to the hypocrisy and to allow people treat this private and personal matter as one of personal choice between them and their doctors. We, along with all the people who have been in contact with us over the past several weeks, will not rest until the House starts to deal with these issues. I am not withdrawing the Bill. We want to press it, not as a panacea but as a signal to our citizens and future generations, as well as to the eyes of the world looking in on us, that we are at last beginning with some seriousness to address this long overdue issue.

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