Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to endorse everything the Deputy said. I believe that, tomorrow, Ireland will make a decision that will have real consequences in terms of how Irish society moves forward. We have an opportunity to address the secrecy, the stigma and, in many ways, the hypocrisy of the way Ireland has dealt with the issue of abortion for most of my lifetime. We have effectively allowed a situation where it is okay to give somebody an address in Manchester or Birmingham and send them on their way on their own but it is not okay to look after them here. We hear arguments to the effect that the Constitution requires us to maintain certain laws that criminalise women for ending pregnancies but perhaps the answer is not to enforce that law because it would be too cruel and not appropriate.

We face a choice tomorrow, and I have to say I have been hugely impressed by the way the Irish people have responded to this challenge. This has been a two year discussion, not a month long one. It started with a Citizens' Assembly that made recommendations that forced me to think about my own views on this issue and confront my own views on the issue that were somehow settled before those arguments were made. I believe I represent a lot of men and many people in this country who for many years have tried to crystalise this debate into pro-life versus pro-choice, believing that by maintaining the current constitutional wording we were somehow protecting unborn children.

What the discussion in the past two years has shown is that that is simply not true when we look at the facts and the data and hear the stories of many of the women who were brave enough to come out and tell intimate stories about their own trauma, vulnerability and tragedy and having to face that on their own wandering the streets of Birmingham for six hours. The issue around the role of men in this choice tomorrow is to try to see that story through the eyes of somebody close to them. I believe if they do that, the way in which they view this issue will change, as it has for me.

From the conversations I have had, predominantly private ones, we have seen a serious consideration by the Irish people in this time of preparation for the vote tomorrow in terms of the Citizens' Assembly, the all-party Oireachtas committee, a Cabinet decision and now a people's decision.

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