Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

If this motion passes I am afraid the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I will probably have loads of rows because I will not stand, no matter what I am told to do. My religion or belief is my business. It is not public property and is not up for public scrutiny. I hope many Deputies in the House will perform the same act of civil disobedience or Oireachtas disobedience. I got loads of tweets tonight from people saying "Fair play to you", "Why are they being so silly?" and "Why are we wasting time on this?" All of these amendments and the connotations of what we might do would be silly were it not for the Tuam babies, the national maternity hospital and the Sisters of Charity, repeal the eighth and the Citizens' Assembly, the legacy of the Magdalen laundries, the Christian Brothers and the persecution that people suffered in this country, Savita Halappanavar, Ms X and Ms Y. The list goes on and on.

The outcome of the Citizens' Assembly has surprised the country and there is an outcry over the national maternity hospital because people have moved on and they want to see the separation of church and State. I will talk a bit about what that means and where it came from. It was first mooted by Thomas Jefferson in the United States in the year - believe it or not - of 1802. It was 215 years ago that Jefferson argued with the Baptist Church that every person is entitled to his or her own religion and beliefs and that it should enshrine the right to be able to pray and have a place of worship whether it is a church, mosque or temple. It should not include the state identifying with any one particular religion and the state, therefore, should not allow religious orders to control health, education or the structures of the state. That is exactly what we have. It is unbelievable that 215 years later we are sitting here debating a more draconian form of insisting we stand and pray. Hello, this is the year 2017. This country has moved on. Could this House please move with the people, move with the times and recognise that we need to separate church and State and that we are sending out completely the wrong message if we start with this sort of nonsense? I will support the amendment tabled by Solidarity.

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