Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Green Party welcomes the Bill because, as a nation, we must have the courage to deal with this issue. Women should not have to steal away from their country to access a safe medical procedure and no woman’s life should ever be put in unnecessary danger. Ultimately, the Legislature must bear responsibility for the ongoing endangerment of the health and safety of women. On a number of occasions court judgments have, rightly, reminded us that it is our function to legislate. The courts have, correctly, signalled their unwillingness to fill the gap by doing the job of legislators. Tonight the Government is compounding that ongoing failure through its proposed amendment which will cause a further unnecessary delay. This latest delay, this intransigence and foot dragging put in peril the health and safety of more Irish women. We understand the work of the Citizens’ Assembly is ongoing and that it should be allowed to complete its work, but its job is not to legislate. That power lies exclusively with the Oireachtas. The Government’s amendment will paralyses that legislative function and, in so doing, once again deals a severe hammer blow to all those who had hoped 2016, in the era of so-called new mature politics, would offer real change. The truth is that the Government lacks the political courage to lead from the front on this issue and, in the absence of a willing Government, the Citizens' Assembly moves centre stage and suddenly represents women’s best pragmatic hope in the lifetime of the Thirty-second Dáil. The Green Party wishes the Citizens' Assembly well, but in the meantime this Oireachtas should never have its voice softened - it should be heard loud and clear. It is not right to expect Members of the Oireachtas to temporarily lose their voice, their resolve and their right to vote. It is because the voices of elected representatives in the past were not sufficiently loud, effective, just, coherent and steadfast that we are where we are today with some women’s lives continuing to be endangered. Sadly and ironically, it is as if the present is catching up with the dark and uncaring days of the past. Ireland can no longer pretend or indefinitely postpone and prevaricate. That is why the Green Party will be supporting the Bill because we believe a referendum is needed to repeal the eighth amendment as soon as possible.

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