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

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating me, it is entirely my fault. Thanks are due to Mr. Justice Sean Ryan and the other 13 members of the expert group whose report we are discussing. It is a comprehensive report and, as someone with no legal and medical background, its detail and comprehension is to be admired. It is difficult to be objective given the subject matter but I found it sensitive in how it was drafted and how it sets out the options for people such as us, who must ultimately decide on the issue.

I am pro-life and I have never met a human being, in the House or elsewhere, who is not pro-life. I reject the impression created by a small minority that, somehow, they value life more than people like me or others. I have never been of the opinion that any woman makes lightly the decision to have a termination or to abort her pregnancy. As men, we must say that. It must be a traumatic and emotional decision for a woman to make. We should be sensitive when talking about the subject. It is not a decision any woman makes lightly.

I compliment Deputy Charles Flanagan. I agree with many of his points and he said things that I do not now need to say. His contribution was thoughtful and balanced and included a comment that the debate is about women who became pregnant. Women who find themselves in that situation and find their lives at risk are the priority.

As legislators, over the past 30 years, we have not made much progress but I will welcome primary legislation whenever it arrives in the House. I think is the only way to deal with the issue and I will have no hesitation in making my mind up about the best thing to do. No other woman should die in the jurisdiction when her life is threatened by pregnancy. With regard to the prolonged history of evading making a decision on the matter, I refer to previous Members of this House, the late Jim Kemmy, the Limerick socialist, and Michael D. Higgins, who represented Galway West. They lost their seats in 1983 as a result of the amendment at the time. Some people paid the price at the time and it is now clearer political weather than it was in 1982 and 1983. We must step up to the edge because no woman should die due to a lack of legislation to protect women in danger during pregnancy.

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