Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, he did. I was not allowed to go to that meeting yesterday. The Minister will find out. I spoke to his top person and was told there was no problem but then that person came back to me and said the Minister did not want me there. Is that the way he is going to move forward? We are used to this kind of deceit and trickery from the Minister. I will be reasonable and understanding. Are we going to have the all-party group that met yesterday representing just one side while forgetting the 750,000? Just because I was on the "No" side, I was not allowed into the room. It is a disgusting, perverse and anti-democratic action by the Minister. He is not entitled to do that because we have seven elected Deputies in our group and I was entitled to be present. Deputy Harty was invited because he is Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health. I have no problem with that. I wanted to attend alongside him on behalf of my group but the Minister said I could not do so. If that is how the Minister wants to deal with this, it is very sad. I will be tabling constructive amendments.

I thank the pro-life groups, including Save the 8th and the Life Institute, and all the groups that worked so hard and so diligently. While there might have been tension at the edges on all sides, the debate was respectful. I appreciate that. I thank those groups that had the courage and bravery to go out and campaign. I will not mention names but they know who they are. They worked tirelessly. They are down but not out. They will be back and they will be fighting for the good and for life issues in the future.

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