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

I am glad the Deputy raised the issue of hard cases because as the Taoiseach said earlier this week, it is hard law that makes these hard cases. It is the fact that we refused to face up to the vulnerability, trauma and appeals for help that many women have asked for and who were sent abroad to deal with that those of us in this House have been thinking about how we can respond to that appropriately. If it was easy to deal with hard cases, I believe we would have had some credible proposals in that regard during the past 35 years. Certainly, the idea that there is any credibility on the part of people who are advocating in the past 24 hours to deal with hard cases on their own and not take the approach that has been the result of two years of consultation and scrutiny is, as the Deputy said, an attempt at distraction and confusion as opposed to a real proposal.

I say to Irish people listening to these proceedings who are trying to make up their mind and are conflicted in terms of the morality of these issues that many of us have been through those thought processes and the conversations that follow. Can I reassure them that from the perspective of the Government and that of the majority in this House, we are proceeding here in the only way that is possible to respond comprehensively in a compassionate way to the challenges that many Irish women will face in the future?

I listened to Saoirse Long last night.

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