Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I met Amnesty at great length and we are having the Amnesty recommendations and report examined. Some of the proposals in the document do not reflect a complete understanding of the Irish Constitution and of its primacy and primary role in the future in changing issues in this area. The Labour Party has already had a very open and democratic debate and discussion on it. We voted against the eighth amendment to the Constitution and argued and recommended that people should not have agreed to the eighth amendment. However, we accept the verdict of the people until we have a situation in which we can put an alternative to them. The Socialist Party is very careful not to say what its alternative would be. If Deputy Coppinger wants a debate, she should set out what her alternatives might be.

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