Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I said Amnesty Ireland. Excuse me, listen. I mentioned Amnesty Ireland. It is fine for the Taoiseach. The Minister wants to hide. This is not a personal attack at all but a Minister in the Government proposing this legislation will not debate it. He chose not to answer me on that and I did not assume at all that the referendum was over. While head 4 of the general scheme says that the life of the unborn child cannot be ended once it has reached viability, there is no evidence of where this will be set. To understand that, I suggest that the Taoiseach reads the definitions contained in the general scheme. Even more disturbing is the fact that, directly following head 4, provision is made in head 5 to nullify or cancel out the prohibitions contained in head 4. There is utter confusion. This clearly demonstrates that all of the claims the Taoiseach and his Ministers are making about protecting the child once it reaches viability are an absolute nonsense and are not worth the paper they are written on. The Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Harris, know that. The Taoiseach and I know that it is simply one more tactic that is being used by this Government to disguise the extreme nature of the proposal. Will the Taoiseach be honest with the people for once in this debate and admit that post repeal, if it happens, absolutely no guarantees can be given on prohibition of abortion in either six, seven, eight or nine months? That is the fact.

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