Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last September, I published a Bill to propose the regulation of crisis pregnancy counselling in Ireland. The need for legislation in this regard is clear to all by now. As I have said repeatedly, women in crisis pregnancy situations are being abused by charlatans who lie to them. Those rogue agencies are still operating in this city although they have been condemned by those on all sides in the House. Here we are coming to end of another Dáil terms and no action has been taken to shut the agencies down. I accepted the bona fides of the Minister for Health when he assured me that he was moving to regulate counselling in these areas. At a meeting for International Women's Day, officials from his Department gave the Labour Party a commitment that the statutory instrument to do so would be brought to the House before the summer recess. Yesterday the Minister, Deputy Harris, said that no such commitment had been made and that regulation would not happen before September at the earliest. This is not good enough. The Labour Party did not press its Bill because we were assured that action would be taken. When will action be taken, as promised by the Government and the Minister for Health?

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