Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach detail to the Dáil the discussions and contacts he, or people representing him, had with the Catholic Church, in particular, in the run-up to the passing of the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill 2013? Was the strong opposition to that Bill the reason he couched it in the narrowest possible terms, really catering for a very exceptional situation where the life of the woman was at risk? Was that the reason he did not include a provision in the Bill providing for termination of pregnancies in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, which many people called on him to include?

Is the Taoiseach aware his Minister for Health met a group, Termination for Medical Reasons Ireland, representing women in this very tragic situation, and apparently empathised strongly with the suffering they had endured and the suffering this means for a woman, a couple, a family and whoever is involved? Will he say looking forward from here that he will consider, as a matter of some urgency, an amendment to the Bill providing for terminations in these cases at the very least, if not also for the protection of women's health generally?

What influence has the Taoiseach's relationship with the Catholic Church, which is in opposition to the views of the huge majority of Irish people as opinion polls and anecdotal evidence tell us, and how much is the church's view responsible for his very great conservativism in this regard?

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