Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday thousands of people marched through the streets of Dublin to mark International Women's Day. Men and women, young and old, of all political persuasions and none, were represented. They were united in a single belief, which is that the time has come to trust women. For decades, as other speakers have outlined, this State has failed women. It has failed to ensure that they have access to the health care they deserve. We have told ourselves the lie that the eighth amendment made our society a better place and that it protected women and children. Of course, the truth is very different. It put women's lives at risk. It forced tens of thousands of Irish women to travel abroad for terminations. It caused, and it continues to cause, great harm to our mothers, sisters and friends.

Today marks a very important moment in our history. Finally, after decades of denial, we are reaching the point where we are going to trust women. To be a Member of the Oireachtas at this time is both an enormous responsibility and an enormous privilege.

I welcome the wording of the referendum Bill. I also welcome all of the work of the Minister and his Department in bringing us to this point and that of the members of the special Oireachtas committee. The issue of abortion should never have been dealt with in the Constitution. Details of any policy area, particularly complex issues of health care, should be dealt with in legislation and policy. That is what the referendum wording proposes and that is why I will be enthusiastically campaigning for it to pass. It is also faithful to the work of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

I also want to welcome the Government policy paper published today. In my view, it provides a credible pathway to a more humane legal framework on the issue of abortion. It recognises that no woman's health, including psychological health, should be put at risk by forcing her to carry to full term. It also recognises that no family should be forced through the trauma of fatal foetal abnormality and that every family's individual decision must be respected. It further recognises that no woman should be criminalised for having an abortion. These are positions which the majority of people in this State, I believe, will firmly support.

The policy paper also recognises that in order to provide terminations in cases of rape or incest, an unrestricted period of access to terminations must be provided in consultation with the medical profession. As the House will be aware, Sinn Féin's current policy does not include this provision and, like other parties and sections of society, more generally, people are anxious about this proposal. I accept and fully understand that but my strong personal belief is that if one does not believe a survivor of rape or incest should be forced to carry to full term, then this is the only way in which this can be achieved. As Deputy McDonald stated, Sinn Féin will be discussing this issue in the coming weeks. I am hopeful that those of us already convinced can persuade our party colleagues of the merits of this view.

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