Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The amendment refers to a risk to a woman's health and well-being and pregnancy as a result of sexual abuse. We export that problem and that is deeply hypocritical. It is a reality for thousands of Irish women, and although we accept their right to travel abroad to seek terminations in those instances, we deny them the right to have them in this State. That is an hypocrisy which is unsustainable and needs to be addressed. The purpose of the amendments is to appeal to the Government to address an unsustainable scenario. That reality for women is not being addressed by the State because of its lack of political courage. There can be no other explanation for its refusal to address the untenable restrictions that exist in that regard.

I refer to the eloquent and pertinent statements of the Minister for Justice and Equality in this regard. He put it better than anybody has when he said it was unacceptable that while men can receive whatever treatment they need to protect their health and well-being, women are denied that right. There is a qualification on the right of women to secure the medical services they need to ensure the protection of their health and well-being. This fundamental discrimination exists against women and there has been no commitment by the Government to address it. We are asking the Minister to address it, but he will respond that this cannot be done within the current constitutional framework. While I accept that, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport said on the radio earlier that the Bill should be referred to the Supreme Court, as it will be challenged anyway, which is a good point. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said earlier that the Oireachtas passes laws and any law it passes should be assumed to be constitutional until it is struck down by the courts.

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