Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Clare Daly for bringing forward this Bill. I favour the repeal of the eighth amendment. I voted not to include it in the Constitution in 1983 and I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, did exactly the same. In fact, the Labour Party was quite heroic at that time. It must be really disappointing for Labour Deputies not to be supporting this Bill. That must be very hard to take for the membership who have been very courageous. I wonder when is the right time for this amendment to be brought forward. We are told there is no mandate for it. Will it be included in the Fine Gael Party manifesto, the Fianna Fáil Party manifesto or the Sinn Féin manifesto? If not, when will there be a mandate?

I am one of those people who was born before 1963 and one had to have been born before 1963 to have participated in that vote. Therefore, there are very many people of child-bearing age who never had an opportunity to determine what was to be in the Constitution and how they might be protected when pregnant.

The 1983 debate was fierce and academic in that it was fought out between lawyers. However, what has changed the public view has been the very tragic cases which have ended up in the public arena, such as the X, Y and A, B and C cases. The awful aspect is that there is an inevitability that these will not be the last cases. We continue to outrage people.

On the night we debated the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, I said I had been over to Liverpool Women's Hospital with a group of people, Doctors for Choice, on a study trip about fatal foetal abnormality. It is barbaric what this country put those women - and couples in most cases - through. These were the people who could afford to travel. Anyone who cannot afford to travel will be told, "You must continue with your pregnancy to term". That is outrageous.

The public are way ahead of this Parliament and they are way ahead of the political parties on this issue, as shown by the opinion polls. I refer to The Irish Timespoll in October which showed that 68% were in favour of a referendum. In September, the Milward Brown poll showed that 75% were in favour of a repeal of the amendment. The figure varies depending on a number of factors.

It was interesting to note that some Members have a different view to that of their party. In their view the eighth amendment is a problem and it needs to be repealed but they are not willing to go that stage further to facilitate it. The chilling effect of the protection of life legislation is very real. The Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, drew attention to it last night, as he did with regard to the risk to health and permanent disability for women who are the only members of the population impacted by this legislation. I wonder if it were to have an impact on all members of the population whether there would be a different viewpoint.

We can talk about considering this issue in a constitutional convention but at some point we will have to grapple with the very real prospect of giving people what the majority of them want, which is an opportunity for a referendum in which they, not us, will decide whether this is the way they want to see a modern country treating women who are pregnant, whether through rape or incest, whether the pregnancy is not a pregnancy with which they wish to continue or in cases of fatal abnormality of the foetus. We are putting off the inevitable day and there always will be a reason this cannot be brought forward. It is about time some respect was shown to the opinion that is way ahead of the Parliament and the political parties and that we agreed to hold a referendum. I will support the Bill tonight.

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