Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois."

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Today, we mark the introduction of a Bill which, if passed, will give the people of Ireland the chance to vote on one of the most debated sections in our Constitution, Article 40.3.3°. I am conscious that we are sitting on a Friday, which is not usual. I thank colleagues for being here when they might have imagined themselves being elsewhere. I ask, as we sit here in these comfortable brown leather chairs in a somewhat abstract environment, for the somewhere else we imagine to be the ports and airports of this country, whether in Cork, Waterford, Dublin, Shannon or elsewhere, where a woman one could know is waiting to go to another country. She might be sitting quietly next to the hen party, the businessman or businesswoman, or the honeymooners, seeming to be on a similar journey, but she is not. Even if she might have a girlfriend or a partner with her, her journey is a lonely one. No matter what her circumstances, she cannot access the care she needs in her own country. She may have been raped. She may have words of congratulations and questions about when she is due ringing in her ears even as she knows she is carrying a baby with a fatal condition but feels she cannot say. Do we imagine that whatever her circumstances that this is a journey or a decision she is undertaking lightly? This is a reality today for at least nine women in this country as we sit here in the comfort of Dáil Éireann.

I introduce this Bill mindful of the impact of the eighth amendment over the 35 years since its insertion. In particular, I am mindful of the women whose most painful, most personal stories we know because it forced them to go to court or to other countries. We are here because of the courage of women like Amanda Mellet and Siobhán Whelan-----

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