Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We start out in life looking at things in a very black and white way and as we go through life we discover that things are not quite as we saw them at earlier times in our lives. Most of our life is lived in a grey zone. We would not be legislating for something like this if every pregnancy was guaranteed a safe delivery or if every pregnancy produced a live and healthy baby. We need legislation to set out parameters. The citizens of this State voted on three separate occasions on this matter. Not only should we legislate but we have a duty to legislate if we call ourselves democrats. We might not like what people decided but we have a duty to respect what they decided.

Deputy Mathews talked about the gift of life. Savita Halappanavar also had the gift of life and in her case it was cut short in a very tragic way because we failed to provide certainty. We need to provide certainty. My criticism of this Bill is that it is the bare minimum. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to make a distinction between life and health. That is why I feel that the way the Bill has been framed is very limited.

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