Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If I started dictating or directing the work of the Citizens' Assembly in any way, the Deputy would rightly be asking what I was doing interfering with the Citizens' Assembly, bringing my own views or those of the Government or anybody else to bear on it. The Citizens' Assembly is chaired by the very eminent Judge Mary Laffoy and I trust it will do its work well. It has heard from an array of speakers and received a huge number of submissions, showing how emotive this issue is and the strong views that many people have in this regard.

I believe I agree with the Deputy's assertion that banning abortion does not lessen abortion. We must have a referendum on the issue. We must have a serious discussion, as I indicated in my reply, about what the legal framework will look like should the people of this country decide they wish to repeal the eighth amendment.

In the ten months I have been Minister for Health, we have had three debates in this House on the issue of abortion, the eighth amendment or matters linked to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, including one last night. No matter how many more debates we have in this House, in the clear legal views made available to me by the Attorney General, the only way of changing this further would be constitutional change. We must wait for the Citizens' Assembly to report.

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