Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kelly for sharing time in order that I might place quite clearly on the record of the Dáil my view that the eighth amendment should never have been put into the Constitution and needs to be taken out. We absolutely support the Bill before the House this evening.

I have been knocking on doors as part of various campaigns since 1983. My first campaign was against the eighth amendment going into the Constitution, and I have never encountered so much venom on doorsteps as I did on that occasion. It should never have gone into the Constitution. We have had the hypocrisy ever since of the idea that Ireland has somehow or other been protected from abortion. The truth is the opposite. We have abortion in Ireland; it is just that we have it in Britain and in various other countries, but mainly in England. The statistics show that the abortion rate actually increased after 1983. In fact, the number of women giving Irish addresses in UK abortion clinics nearly doubled from 3,650 in 1982 to 6,673 in 2001. Other Deputies have provided similar statistics. They are significant numbers. In fact, Ireland has a higher abortion rate - as a proportion of its population - than many other countries. However, abortion just does not happen in this country. That is hypocrisy, and it is about time we got rid of it. It has no place in the Constitution. I am not sure whether the Fianna Fáil position is that we should replace the eighth amendment with some words about the circumstances in which we should allow abortion. Either way, it is our job, as legislators, to decide on legislation. Abortion law should not be in the Constitution. We really need to take our responsibilities here and we need to put it to the people that times have changed and that it is time we had a referendum on this issue. I do not believe we should have any delay whatsoever.

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