Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an ábhar fíorthábhachtach seo atá roimh an Dáil um thráthnóna. I am also grateful to the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I commend its members, including, in particular, its Chairman, Senator Catherine Noone, and the three Sinn Féin representatives, Deputies Louise O'Reilly and Jonathan O'Brien and Senator Paul Gavan. I also thank the Citizens' Assembly and its chairman, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy. I commend the Minister for Health for his very compassionate remarks. I also commend the thoughtful remarks made by Teachta Billy Kelleher.

One hundred years ago this year Countess Markievicz was elected to the first Dáil. She went on to become the first female Cabinet Minister in Europe. She was part of a revolutionary strand of the national movement that included women such as Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Kathleen Lynn and Elizabeth O'Farrell. They were fine women who serve as role models for many of us to this day. They led the struggle for women's rights in extraordinary times, buoyed by the freedom charter that was the 1916 Proclamation which addressed itself equally to Irish men and Irish women. They must have felt betrayed after the counter revolutionary period which resulted in the development of two conservative, narrow-minded states that championed public policy that was anti-women, chauvinistic, cruel and intolerant.

Women were written out of history. Their status in this State was confirmed in the 1937 Constitution, which provided that the place of women is "in the home". Women who strayed beyond the so-called norms were sent to Magdalen laundries or mother and baby homes, where they endured unbelievable hardship and were denied everything by a State that condemned them for no reason other than the fact that they were women. Such attitudes permeated every facet of Irish life. The architecture of the State ensured women were consigned to a lesser status. The employment marriage bar remained in force until 1973. Domestic violence was not recognised as an issue during this era. It was not until 1976 that a wife could seek a barring order against her husband. Criminal conversation, which enshrined in law that a wife was the property of her husband, remained on the Statute Book until 1981. Contraception was not available without a prescription until 1985, and even then only in chemists until 1991. Simple things like the purchase of a television or a radio on hire purchase were not possible without a husband's signature at this time.

While strides have been made in addressing some of the historic injustices forced on women by this State, the legacy of that treatment remains with us in respect of issues like pay equality, or the lack of it. It can be seen in the scarcity of women from many aspects of public life, politics and leadership positions in commerce, academia and other sectors. This injustice is evident in the continued existence of the 1983 amendment to the Constitution, which was already out of touch at that time. This amendment prohibits access to what is considered, and was considered even at that time, to be basic medical treatment in any developed society. That is not right. It is wrong. As legislators, we have a responsibility to end that injustice. The business of the State should be to ensure women have access to proper health care services if they need them and choose to avail of them. The State has a responsibility to support women.  We should not fool ourselves. Abortion is a reality in Ireland. Abortion pills are available here. They can be ordered online and taken by women without medical supervision. Women in distress can go to England, which is an English solution to an Irish problem.

I have my own position on abortion. As a legislator, I have no right to impose that view on anyone. It is not for any of us here to cast judgment on anybody for doing what they feel they need to do. It is for women to make that judgment. I believe they are fully capable of doing so and are entitled to do so. Those who are opposed to abortion are entitled to their opinions. They are equally and fully entitled not to have terminations. Everyone has the right to choose. Those who subscribe to a particular faith can heed the guidance of their religious leaders if they so choose. My strongly held opinion is that it is not appropriate for anyone to foist their views on anyone else. Some of those who will oppose that analysis are friends of mine. They are good people whose sincerely held views I respect. Tolerance has to be the hallmark of our discourse.

Ireland has changed. That change has been spearheaded by women in the first case. Mná na hÉireann are not going to accept as dogma the continued guidance, mar dhea, of a Constitution that was written when they were second-class citizens and was revised in 1983 under false pretences. Women do not need moral diktats and certainly do not need condemnation. They need and deserve respect.  They need the right to make decisions about their own health and their own lives. Repealing the eighth amendment is the right thing to do.  It will correct an historic wrong. I hope a referendum to give the people the right to repeal the eighth amendment happens as soon as possible. I hope the people will support that proposition. Thereafter, we can debate the merits or otherwise of the legislation that will follow.

Sinn Féin accepts the need for abortion to be available where a woman’s life, health or mental health is at serious risk or in danger and in cases of rape or sexual abuse. This has been our policy for a long time. We recently dealt with the issue of fatal foetal abnormality at an Ard-Fheis. I never knew there was such a condition. We listened to compassionate people explaining how they or their partners, sisters or friends decided to carry a fatal foetal abnormality to full term while others could not do so. We changed our position accordingly. I think that is what we have to do. The first step we need to take is to allow women the right to make a choice on these deeply distressing matters. It is their business, it is their right and it is their choice. Sinn Féin will fully support the repeal of the eighth amendment.

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