Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the difficulty the Minister has in trying to create legislation in this area to end up ultimately with a medical practice that can be followed. I agree with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, that much of the talk here has been legalese, but one of the foundations of the Government's policy is legalese. I regret that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, is not here, but he is probably watching the monitor. He came in here to deconstruct an argument by the Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs, Deputy Creighton, but I briefly remind him - and I could quote ad nauseam from material here - that in the past he has asked the Taoiseach if he would not agree that there have been a substantial number of constitutional cases in which the advices of the Office of the Attorney General have been proved wrong. I appreciate the work done by the Attorney General, but the Minister is aware that his own Department lost a naturalisation case in Sligo last year with respect to the Iranians. I could go on about upward-only rent reviews, etc. There was also the case of McCrystal v. the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. That is not the point of this issue.

The Minister spoke about quoting psychiatrists. He can quote a few psychiatrists, but the majority of them disagree. I will not quote the words of Professor Kevin Malone, one of the most qualified people on the issue of suicide. His contributions are in the report of the committee hearings and people can check them there if they want.

I want to deal with one very important issue that the Minister for State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, raised. I may be misquoting her, but I think she said there were claims that pregnant women could not be suicidal. I do not think anybody here made that claim. I may have misinterpreted her. Everyone acknowledges that that can be the case. Of course the Minister for Justice and Equality was right when he talked about the X case and the 14-year-old girl who was raped. That is absolutely horrific. It is one of the things that has caused a difficulty for me. I can only quote Jacqueline Montwill, who said when it was put to her that one violation on top of another does not solve the problem, horrific and all as it is. When one hears the emotive language one is of course shocked. Bernadette Goulding of Women Hurt said exactly the same thing. This Government would not allow a referendum.

See this speech in context