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

I thank the Chairman of the Oireachtas joint committee, Senator Catherine Noone. I also thank the members of the Citizens' Assembly who made the work of the committee so much easier by placing in the public domain an enormous amount of information and vital evidence. In addition, I thank those members of the committee who approached the work of the committee in a thoughtful and professional manner. We heard evidence that was sometimes difficult to hear, but it was very necessary. Some members of the committee used their body language and close physical presence to delegates in a manner which I personally believe was designed to be intimidatory. They did themselves and their cause no favours.

We have heard the evidence from experts. We wanted facts, not opinions. We have heard the evidence from the experts on why the eighth amendment must go. We heard from the masters of the maternity hospitals, the men and women we trust to look after women - our daughters and their friends. They have told us, clearly, in a way one could not misunderstand or misinterpret, that the eighth amendment is an impediment to them in doing their job. Professor Malone, Dr. Peter Boylan and Dr. Rhona Mahony said it. The evidence is there. It does not suit the narrative put forward by the anti-abortion cabal which is reminiscent perhaps of what was being said in 1983, but we have moved on. Women have fought and continue to fight for equality. We will not go back into the boxes in which the patriarchy tried to put us in 1983 and for the decades thereafter.

We spoke to medical professionals and legal experts. The facts might contradict the narrative put forward by some, but they are the facts. Spurious claims were made at the committee. For that reason, I had to write to the lcelandic and Danish Governments in order that they could defend themselves against the misinformation and put forward the facts.

Many Irish women have had the personal experience of travelling to England either with a friend or on their own and they gave an English address. Therefore, we cannot say definitively how many women travel, but we know that it is in the thousands. We cannot say Irish women do not have abortions. They do; they just do not have them here. They take abortion pills and while the pills are safe, it is not ideal that they are sometimes taken without medical supervision.

For me, the most compelling evidence at the committee was given by the masters of the maternity hospitals, in particular Professor Malone who, to paraphrase him, said the eighth amendment prevented him from providing a full range of health care services for the women in his care.

Repeal simpliciteris the best option. It is Sinn Féin's preferred option and the option favoured by the committee. That must be reflected in any question put to the people. I will not rehearse the Sinn Féin position which is well known and has been well ventilated, but I will say I am immensely proud of my party and our members for the manner in which they have discussed this issue of women's health and health care and the way they have embraced the need to repeal the eighth amendment. Given that we are concluding a comprehensive 32-county women's health policy, it is not appropriate that we pre-empt any further decision of our members on this issue. We will be bound by the decision of our members. Our activists are the lifeblood of our movement and their decision, once arrived at democratically, is important to us. It is instructive, not indicative. However, whatever our members decide, we must be clear that it is unimplementable, unless and until we repeal the eighth amendment.

We are having a respectful debate. Let us hope we have a respectful campaign. I call on all repealers to come together. Whether we agree or disagree on what legislation may be drafted in the aftermath, we must put repeal first. I call on the leaders of other parties to do what their job title suggests and lead on this issue. The women of Ireland will not thank us if we do not provide leadership. They will not thank us if we use this referendum to score political points. The committee heard a huge amount of unbiased and expert evidence, some of which was very moving, like the stories shared with us by Termination For Medical Reasons Ireland, and some of it put very clearly the need for repeal.

I will conclude by saying to my parents and others who campaigned against the insertion of the eighth amendment in 1983 that they were right. What they said in 1983 was right. They were subjected to quite disgraceful and disgusting intimidation at the time, but they predicted all of these issues. We can now say they were right when they predicted the complications that would result from inserting an issue related to women's health care into the Constitution. We have an opportunity to put this right. We thank the veterans of 1983 for trying to keep the amendment out of the Constitution. We assure them that we will not miss this opportunity to work hard to get it out. Similarly, I thank all of the young people, many of whom are young women, who have driven this issue in more recent years. We all shared our ages yesterday evening. I say this as someone who is possibly moving gently into the category of "auld wan", that it is not for me that the amendment needs to be repealed but for those women who will come after me.

Today I remember Ann Lovett, Sheila Hodgers, Joanne Hayes and all those women who have been served horrendously by the State. For them, our daughters and granddaughters, we will repeal the eighth amendment.

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