Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

What we have before us is clear. It is a charade that the Government - both Fine Gael and the "Endapendents" - believes it had to devise. It would be laughable were it not so serious. One hundred people who presumably all have jobs and lives must gather several times and deliberate over a growing list of topics. Deputies have thrown in the Thirty-two Counties and the Green Party has argued for something else, but this is really about the eighth amendment. Let us not kid ourselves. The Government is struggling to find a formula that will allow it not to deal with what has become the key civil rights issue for this generation, namely, people's need to control their own destinies if they have unwanted pregnancies and the need to repeal the eighth amendment and legislate for abortion rights. This country's conservative establishment has clung to the Catholic church for so many decades that it no longer knows what it would do otherwise. It wants to push this issue off the Dáil’s agenda. Everyone outside the Houses knows this.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance will oppose the motion because we recognise that abortion is the reality for thousands of women. They cannot wait any longer for this House to deal with what they know has to be done. They must leave the State, incurring expense, shame, secrecy and criminality. We need to recognise this, repeal the eighth amendment and legislate for abortion rights. We need to end the hypocrisy and cowardice. A referendum is the only solution. We do not need a citizens’ assembly to deliberate for a year only for it to tell us that. This is now common currency. Attitudes have changed beyond belief outside the Houses. In the previous Amnesty poll, 75% of people supported a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment but the Dáil is preventing people from having their democratic say.

The catch-cry from the Government last year when a repeal of the eighth amendment referendum Bill was tabled was that there was no appetite to revisit the issue. The issue has not been visited for 33 years. There is a Private Members’ Bill to revisit the divorce legislation and shorten its terms, which I support. Is it the idea that we do not need to revisit something such as the eighth amendment after an entire generation? The Government’s current catch-cry is that it needs a commission to tell it what would replace the amendment. I have noticed another claim recently, namely, that a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment would not pass. Deputies who were pro-choice and so-called feminists are using self-serving arguments to justify sitting in a Government that is delaying on this issue. We can win a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment. One of the reasons that I am convinced of this is that I am regularly out on the streets discussing this issue with people from all walks of life. People have the ability to sway and win this referendum. Young people, women and others, will come out to support this referendum.

AAA-PBP has tabled amendments to the motion. The first relates to the word "citizens". It is annoying and offensive that Deputies continue to use this word when referring to ordinary people. Ireland has a large population of people who are not citizens. They may or may not be from Europe. They are affected by the eighth amendment. A number of amendments insist that this fact be reflected. Will the Government at least allow local election voters to be included if this sham is to go through?

The other issue is gender. A group of 100 people from all walks will decide on something that will only affect a minority of those in their lives. I completely disagree with that.

This matter should never have been dealt with in the Constitution. Unfortunately, we need a referendum to get rid of the relevant amendment, but let us not have a group of people who will never be affected by the issue deciding on the wording and on how to proceed.

Can the Government clarify its position? The Government is giving the assembly a year to come back with a decision on the eighth amendment. Will it agree that this is doing nothing but adding to the trauma of many women whose circumstances it would not deal with in the Dáil last week and that the period should be shortened to three months at the very most? That is all that is needed.

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