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

When we introduced our Bill, I was asked if the Minister would bring forward legislation and I said I believed he would. I am glad that is so. I recognise that this is important symbolically and that for the first time we are legislating for abortion in Ireland. After today, however, it is not the symbolism at which we must look but the details of the Bill and what is contained in it. In that sense, if the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, is disappointed that we are not supporting it, I can tell him we, too, are disappointed, but not for the reasons he stated. We are not voting against it because we want measures included in it which are unconstitutional. Our history in this case will prove that to be demonstrably false. We know that some of these issues are outside the scope of the Constitution. However, we have brought forward provisions based on the X case judgement and we would have been willing to support them.

What the Bill does is put obstacles in the way which are not there now, making it more difficult for women and which will result in us not protecting their lives. As the Minister stated, as it stands, legally, one medical practitioner can adjudicate on the issue of suicide. Under this legislation, we are proposing three practitioners. The Minister claims the psychiatrists will make the primary decision, but that is not clear. That is not what the legislation states. It actually states it needs to be a unanimous decision of all three practitioners, including an obstetrician, with an appeals mechanism. It does not provide clarity; critically, it provides a definition of the unborn which is unprecedented in Europe and makes it more difficult to deal with other issues such as fatal foetal abnormalities and so on. It is for these reasons that we reluctantly do not support the legislation.

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