Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On Amnesty International's report, I had an opportunity to meet at length in my office its secretary general, Mr. Salil Shetty, together with its officials, including the head of Amnesty International in this country, Mr. Colm O’Gorman. They presented the report to me, which I understand they also presented to a number of other members of the Government, including the Minister for Health. The report is extensive and the Deputy will be aware that it contains a number of recommendations. However, she must bear in mind that it seeks to address an issue everyone would like to see addressed, namely, fatal foetal abnormalities, in order that women who are carrying a much loved baby but who have been advised that the baby will not survive pregnancy would have an option of dealing with the issue. Many women who find themselves in this situation may wish to carry the baby to full term, while others will not. It is important that women have choices in that regard. That formed a significant part of the report.

Amnesty International also presented the report to the Dáil. There is less understanding internationally and the fact must be respected that the Irish people in a free vote, as was the case in all recent referenda, chose in their wisdom, whether the Deputy agrees with it, to insert the eight amendment into the Constitution. Therefore, the legal advice to the Government is that when the people express their view in a referendum, as they chose to do, the majority position prevails. I believe the Deputy disagrees with the legal advice, from what she said previously. She should remember that in the previous referendum on gay marriage 62% voted in favour, but there were also many people who expressed their disagreement with the proposition, as was their right. That is called democracy. If there is to be any change in the matters which fall within the remit of the eight amendment, it must be done by way of a further constitutional referendum to be put to the people. In that event, we must clearly set out, in a way that takes into account the best interests of women and babies, the framework with which we wish to replace it. Unlike the marriage equality referendum, this is not about inserting extra words into the Constitution but about removing from it a particular framework which was included by the people in their wisdom 30 years ago and replacing it with an alternative framework.

It is going to take a great deal of detailed work in the Labour Party. Speaking as leader of the Labour Party, we have had extensive discussions within the party and an extensive motion at conference dealing with the issue, but in terms of the medical and legal experts with whom we have spoken, including Dr. Boylan and other eminent doctors, we have a lot more work to do. However, it is an issue we are committed to addressing, as per our conference motion. The Government has addressed the issues we agreed to address in the programme for Government, namely, the X case and the A, B and C case. We will shortly receive some reports, as set out in the legislation, from the Minister for Health on current practices.

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