Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by acknowledging the cross-party support for this motion, which sends a fairly clear message to women and indeed, to men. Perhaps they get a hard time sometimes but one gets the feeling that they made a lot of the rules that we are trying to undo at the moment. I have to say that for an order that takes a vow of poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the poor, the Sisters of Charity appear to have a fixation with property ownership and control. That is entirely a matter for themselves but I believe it is a little odd.

It is 34 years since Sheila Hodgers died in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. I knew Sheila, although I was very young when she died. Her death certificate will say that she died of cancer but she did not. She was killed by an ideology. The hospital did not treat her when she was pregnant for the cancer that was killing her. She died, her baby died and her husband was left bringing up two children on his own. Some 34 years on, not much has changed. The hope that we have when we leave here this evening is that real change will happen for Irish women and that no more will I have to stand here and repeatedly raise the issue of the lack of access to anomaly scans. It is not good enough that a post code lottery operates whereby a woman living in one county can, in some circumstances, access such a scan while a woman who lives in another county cannot. We have all seen the result of that. I have spoken previously about Jazmine Sands's loss of her beautiful baby girl. While an anomaly scan would not have saved her, it would have given her mam the opportunity to spend a bit more time with her daughter before the inevitable happened. It is for that reason and for the countless other tragedies, many of which will never see the light of day or get any publicity, that it is essential that anomaly scans, which are considered an absolute basic in any developed maternity service in any developed country, are made available. I emphasise the fact that these are screening tests which should be available to every pregnant woman not just where clinically indicated, but as a matter of course and routine.

We have heard this evening about the shocking lack of perinatal psychiatric services for women. As Deputy McDonald correctly pointed out, it is not the "after baby blues"; it is depression and we need to call it what it is. Just because it happens to a woman when she is pregnant or very soon after she gives birth does not mean that it is different or any less awful or horrific for her. We must improve the services that are available for those women who are in absolute torment and who need all of the support we can give them. This evening, we have collectively sent a very clear message to women that we can stand with them and support them. Rather than patting ourselves on the back, saying that we are doing a great job, we are showing here that we can be mature enough to acknowledge that we have let women down. I have seen that in my own family. We have let women down with the maternity services that we are providing. If we acknowledge that we have let them down and that we can do better, the women of Ireland will thank us for having this conversation. More than that, more than thanks for fine words, they will thank us for taking action and for providing the services that they so badly and desperately need.

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