Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Irish people for the resounding "Yes" vote they cast as a nation on Friday last. We have come so far since 1983, when the pulpit ruled and we were subjected to the threats and fearmongering of a vengeful creed. Looking back now, it is hard to imagine that Ireland back then was very different from the modern, globalised and informed country we have today. An information deficit left a void filled by dogma and shame. Free secondary school education, introduced in 1967, had a radical effect upon our culture, social mobility and economy. Education - and the freedoms arising from it - was the preserve of those who could afford it. At that time, fewer than half of those aged 15 were still in school. What free education did was establish an educated population across society. We have an electorate that is informed, engaged, compassionate and aware as a result.

The eighth amendment was sold as a way of protecting unborn life. From what, however, was the unborn being protected? It was from women. When one considers the matter, one realises that it is a terrible way to think of women - the very women who bore us and continue to bear the children of Ireland. The consequences of the eighth amendment have been discussed at length, including in the context of the nine women who travel per day, the three per day who take abortion pills and those who will today receive the brutal diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality.

The principle of power and control over women is not erased, however, in spite of the huge vote in support of the 36th amendment. We have quite a way to go. This is not just an aspiration for a society of participating equals; we need to atone for wrongs that were done to so many for so long and to address the imbalance that persists within this House.

We heard much disturbing commentary in the House in the months leading up to the referendum campaign, including suggestions that women are doing grand and that the heads of Glanbia and FBD are women. We heard the head of the National Transport Authority "is a lady" and that the head of the Road Safety Authority is also "a lady". Well, good luck to them. What on earth was the point of using them as examples and as weapons against other women? Would we not look well in here speaking about a subject concerning men who are directly suffering if we said:

Sure, the Taoiseach is a man, the Leader of the Opposition is a man, the President of Ireland is a man, and the head of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is a man, so men are clearly doing grand. What would be wrong with ye?

Imagine if we said that in this House. Some of this commentary regarding abortion involved nods towards misogyny and prejudices that were not reflected in the local ballot boxes of those responsible. If people are feeling sheepish now and feeling out of step with their electorates, they should be. The insertion of the eighth amendment into the Constitution was far more than what they sold it as; it was designed to exert power and wield control over women.

I would like to thank a number of people who have come out in recent years in support of the repeal of the eighth amendment and those who have exposed some of the dark, dark chapters of our history, chapters in which we paid headage payments per woman and child incarcerated for their sins behind the walls of mother and baby homes. I thank those who told their personal stories in this regard. I know that Galway County Council paid the nuns a pound per child per week in Tuam. That is what the historian Mary McAuliffe told me.

We came together last week and we did it from all quarters. Ailbhe Smyth, Orla O'Connor and Grainne Griffin deserve considerable praise for the Together for Yes campaign, and so do Deirdre Duffy and Amy Rose Harte. So do the doctors and the lawyers, particularly Fiona de Londras. I thank the activists around the country, particularly those I met in Donegal when I travelled there to support them in Ballybofey. I thank, in particular, Theresa Newman and Etain Hobson who worked for and supported me every day and who travelled to Ennis, Tullamore, Limerick, Abbeyshrule, Meath, Donegal, Kildare and beyond. I thank my colleagues Deputies Durkan, Bailey, Hildegarde Naughton, Corcoran Kennedy and Fitzgerald and Senators Buttimer and Senator Reilly, who all supported me throughout this work. I thank my constituents, the people who put their faith in me at the last election and whom I hope will do so again. They returned the highest "Yes" vote in the country at 78.49%. Of that, we are immensely proud. Most of all, I thank the women, especially the young women, who turned out in their droves to vote in the referendum. This is your country and your voice. This is your victory and your future, and it is your choice.

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