Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Taoiseach that the Constitution is in place. I am asking him to allow people to change it by holding a referendum, enabling them to overturn a decision that was taken 31 years ago at the behest of a Catholic lobby and nobody else. He said the eighth amendment did not prevent the life support from being turned off, but it is the reason doctors were fearful in the first place. The man sitting to the left of the Taoiseach talked about the chilling effect on doctors of the eighth amendment when he had knowledge of the case, and he was right. In the court case, doctors said, "We are unclear what to do in light of the eighth amendment." Dr. Peter Boylan, who is very authoritative and was used as a State witness in the case, said that repeal of the eighth amendment would be even more helpful than medical guidelines. The point about Paris was that the Taoiseach strutted and strolled up the Champs-Élysées with many other Western leaders, ostensibly against religious fundamentalism, while he is presiding at home over a host of laws, including one about blasphemy and one which is so anti-woman, medieval-----

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