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

-----and getting unanimity among them and if she does not get it, going to another three. The last occasion I checked, three plus three was six.

I am glad this legislation is before us, but let us be clear. What the Government has presented is the absolute minimum. The clear intention is to make it so restrictive that most women who will be affected will not even bother and, instead, they will continue to make the journey to Britain so that the Government can continue to pretend that there is no Irish abortion.

My questions to the Taoiseach are as follows. How did he get his Labour Party colleagues to settle for this when SIPTU, ICTU, USI, Unite, the National Women's Council and every other organisation has stated the opinion of two medical practitioners was enough? Why did the Government bother to convene an expert group and hold hearings into its report, and then patently ignore its finding which stated that it was generally considered that two doctors of relevant experience and training were enough to make a clinical decision on the physical or mental health conditions of a woman? Would the Taoiseach agree that the only reason there have not been more maternal deaths because of the lack of abortion in Ireland is precisely because of our proximity to Britain?

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