Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to add my voice to those who have commended the work of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I particularly commend my colleagues, Teachtaí Louise O'Reilly and Jonathan O'Brien and Seanadóir Paul Gavan. I also commend the Chairman of the committee, Senator Catherine Noone, who did a very fine job. As an Oireachtas, we made a big ask of our peers and colleagues on the committee. I believe they conducted themselves with great dignity, compassion, intelligence and thoughtfulness throughout the hearings. I commend them on that. I was disappointed that some members of the committee tried unsuccessfully to thwart its work. I do not say that to sound a note of rancour, but because it is important that the disrespectful commentary which featured in the course of the committee's work is not allowed to set the tone for the public debate. As we move to repeal the eighth amendment of the Constitution and agree a new legislative and regulatory framework, I hope and believe it will be an historic and momentous journey for all of us. I hope all of this work can be done in a respectful, well-informed, calm and fair atmosphere.

The harrowing experiences of Joanne Hayes, and all the horrific events surrounding what became known as the Kerry babies scandal of more than 33 years ago, have played themselves out again in heartbreaking detail in the past 24 hours. The scale of the abuse Joanne endured at the hands of the State was unprecedented and horribly and agonisingly public. I welcome yesterday's apology from the Garda Síochána and today's apology from the Taoiseach. Such statements are most welcome. The Taoiseach must now move to make good today's statement on compensation for Joanne Hayes. She is entitled to a full and formal apology from the State for its persecution and vilification of her and her family. She also deserves compensation and redress. Back then, having failed Joanne and having pursued her case in the most corrupt manner, the Garda went viciously for a second bite at the tribunal of inquiry.

I remember hearing Joanne Hayes's name when I was a girl. I remember the Kerry babies being spoken of. I also recall the incredible atmosphere of hostility directed at women and girls in 1983. I can still feel the very toxic atmosphere in which the eighth amendment was conceived, debated and inserted into the Constitution. I do not think there is a woman of my age in Ireland who cannot still feel how that atmosphere felt. After all, this was the Ireland of the mother and baby homes and the Magdalen laundries. It was an Ireland where women were to be subjugated and kept quiet inside the home to accept their fate. This obsessive control of women did not happen by accident.

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It was very much intended by a powerful conservative cohort across society - in government and the churches, across the highest ranks of the public and Civil Service and among the professional elites. Women's subjugation was part of a carving up of power and influence in the public and private spheres, which did not happen by accident.

The then journalist and current European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, wrote the following in 1992:

The widespread passive acceptance of the patriarchal nature of Irish society also enabled the conservative lobby to hold sway. Nothing threatens the system more than when women are enabled to take control of every aspect of their lives, public and private. And there is nothing more critical to the exercise of that control than the ability to decide how many children to have, if any, and when to have them.

The eighth amendment was in effect a constitutional coup and the reactionary codification of the suppression of women. That is what happened in 1983. In the decades since, women in Ireland have had to live with the abusive outworkings of the eighth amendment. The X case, in particular, brought into sharp focus the worst expression of the conservative coup. A child who was pregnant as a result of rape was dragged through the courts by the State, whose sole and stated intent was to force her to continue with the pregnancy from rape to full term. I still struggle to fully comprehend the callousness of the State in so aggressively and cruelly forcing a child victim of rape to continue with pregnancy. It is hard to fathom that any individual or agency could heap more abuse and trauma on a child who had already been violated. Even after the Supreme Court judgment, the public outcry and the horrors endured by Miss X and her family, successive Governments refused for more than two decades to legislate for the X case. It is important to record that this is a source of shame for successive Oireachtais. It took the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar and the alphabetical array of cases taken by incredibly brave women to shame government into finally enacting in law the Supreme Court decisions in the X case.

There is now broad acceptance across the Oireachtas and in wider society that the eighth amendment must be repealed from the Constitution. I passionately believe that now is the time for leadership and in that regard, I commend the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, on his words this evening. Leadership must come from the front.

Abortion is a divisive issue. That statement echoes throughout this debate. While that may be the case, the abuse of women and indifference to our health and bodily integrity are not divisive issues but unacceptable positions to take in public life. Some people argue that because abortion is a divisive issue, votes of conscience must, therefore, be allowed. I do not share that view and I say this as someone who is deeply respectful of diverse views and fully understands that some people will struggle with this issue. However, in the final analysis, this debate is a matter of public health, women's health, our right to decide and our right to respect for our conscience as we decide on matters for ourselves. The clinicians and doctors, not least in the hearings of the joint committee, made clear that the eighth amendment casts a long shadow over their practice and relationships with their patients and jeopardises women's health and their lives.

The first issue for the Oireachtas to address is the nature of the question to be put for repeal. A simple repeal of the eighth amendment of the Constitution, as recommended by the joint committee, must be delivered. There can be no equivocation on this by anyone. If legal advice that takes a contrary view is offered, for instance, if it is suggested that instead of repeal simpliciter, an enabling clause should be inserted in the Constitution, the Government must share this advice with all Oireachtas Members because we need transparency and informed debate above all.

I agree with Deputy Billy Kelleher and my party colleague, Deputy Gerry Adams, that the first order of business is the repeal of the eighth amendment. Thereafter, we must debate and acquire an understanding of the legislative framework. The first task and duty of the Oireachtas at this time is to remove the eighth amendment from the Constitution. It is time to right a fundamental wrong that occurred in 1983. As legislators, we cannot accept the terrible impact of the eighth amendment on women's health, their obstetric care and well-being, and their and our fundamental rights. We must state loud and clear that we trust and respect women and that there is no place for the cruelty of the eighth amendment in a modern and diverse Ireland.

There can be no place for unnecessary dogma or doctrinaire positions in the coming months. I accept, however, that we must listen to, acknowledge and engage with people's concerns. It is, after all, our shared responsibility to protect women's rights and health now and into the future by engaging in a respectful debate and delivering a successful referendum result, which means the repeal of the eighth amendment.

As we are all being confessional and owning up to our ages, I was 14 years old when the eighth amendment to the Constitution was made. As I was reflecting on this debate and listening to Joanne Hayes, I wondered how I would explain to my 14 year old daughter what Ireland was like then and what the hostility experienced by women and girls felt like at the time. I am very happy to say I could not begin to explain to my 14 year old daughter what that was like. That is a great thing. It is now time for the law, politics and every Member of the Oireachtas to catch up with public opinion and the new Ireland, the country in which my 14 year old daughter and all our daughters and granddaughters - and our boys and men - live and give us and them a decent, human rights-based and respectful Constitution that acknowledges women as full and equal people.

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