Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Will the Taoiseach elaborate on the discussions he had with Archbishop Martin about the eighth amendment? Many people have said, rightly, that the debate on the likely referendum on the eighth amendment should be conducted in a reasonable and respectful manner. However, the fact is that in the past it has often been people associated with the church, often in senior positions in the church, who have tried to reduce the argument to phrases such as "abortion is murder", "it is about the destruction of innocent life" and so on. This is what has polarised previous debates.

I remember standing outside these Houses a long time ago and being physically attacked with hurleys by people attached to the Catholic view of abortion because we were protesting about the treatment of Miss X at the time of the tragic X case. It is important that the Taoiseach sends out a very clear signal that the Government expects those who are anti-abortion not to polarise the debate with such terms, which are really derogatory and do not respect the decisions of huge numbers of Irish women to seek abortions under very difficult circumstances, whether as a result of poverty, rape, mental or physical health threats or whatever other reasons, and expects the church to commit not to denigrate women in the debate that is likely to ensue.

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