Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have listened intently over recent months as this item was discussed at the Oireachtas committee, where many people made passionate contributions and professionals and families gave very competent evidence. What is before us is a proposal to repeal the eighth amendment to the Constitution and to allow the Oireachtas to legislate further.

I have given it a huge amount of thought, as many people have. The eighth amendment was put into the Constitution in 1983 and it has, by and large, served us well. I believe it should not be repealed and that, if there is an attempt to repeal it, the alternatives should be put to the Irish people. It is not acceptable as it is a fundamental life-and-death issue on which the Irish people should be sovereign. In any decision made on repealing or replacing the eighth amendment, it is not acceptable to repeal it and allow the Oireachtas, or future Houses of the Oireachtas, to legislate. The Irish people should be consulted at all times on what should be in Bunreacht na hÉireann as regards the right to life of the unborn. I have listened to the very serious situations in which families have found themselves and the enormous challenges they face but it is not acceptable to allow an Oireachtas, whatever its make-up, to decide. Many people debating this 35 years ago would not have envisaged the type of Oireachtas we have today and who is to say what an Oireachtas of the future will be like? It could be ultraliberal or ultraconservative but God alone knows.

I am standing by what is in the Constitution and it should not be repealed. No Oireachtas should be allowed to make a decision as fundamental as the one we are about to make. Many people at the extremes of the debate have had their say but I believe, from listening to people in my own area and across the country, that people are very personal about this issue. They will make their own minds up absolutely personally, and that is the right way to do it. As Oireachtas Members, we have to give our view but the people are educating themselves on the evidence. They want protection in the Irish Constitution and we have taken pride in a Constitution that respects every single person. The unborn should be included in that and under no circumstances could we repeal the eighth amendment to allow an Oireachtas, now or in the future, to decide. That is why I will be voting to retain the eighth amendment.

See this speech in context