Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party's proposed change to the law is directly linked to one particular undercover operation, which I welcome, that focused on an exposé of an anti-abortion counselling agency. As I said, Deputy Howlin ignored all of the other ones. It just does not add up. How come no similar concerns or rushes to change the law were raised by the Labour Party when many of us on this side of the House showed that the State-funded IFPA was giving women life-endangering advice during crisis pregnancy counselling? Where was the outrage and calls for changes to the law from the Labour Party then? The party was in government. It could have drafted a Bill any day it wanted to. Where was the outrage when the IFPA was caught on tape telling women to lie to their doctors, as Deputy Collins said, and to say they had a miscarriage and not an abortion in the event of medical complications arising. Goodness knows, many can arise.

I have heard the Minister for Health voice his support for this proposal on the radio a few times. It is impossible to take Deputy Howlin’s proposal, or the Minister's support for it, seriously when both men have maintained absolute silence about the life-endangering abuses of the IFPA counselling.

The people out there are not fools altogether. They are educated, both young and old. They know what is going on. They can recognise downright lies. Lies were mentioned so many times tonight. I thought it was not allowed to mention them in this Chamber but downright lies have been quoted several times by proponents of the Bill. Damn lies. Many people are rightly revolted by the unbelievable hypocritical-----

See this speech in context