Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday Ireland took a giant leap forward. For the first time in our history, women with crisis pregnancies will be treated with compassion in their own country. They will be supported, have access to professional, regulated medical care, be trusted and be able to choose in their own country.

Many people deserve great credit for Friday's result. There are those who have campaigned for decades, women such as Ailbhe Smyth, Catherine McGuinness, Senator Ivana Bacik and Deputy Clare Daly. Others have worked tirelessly to run the campaigns, to raise money to produce leaflets, newsletters, posters and everything in between. They were the engine of what undoubtedly became a grassroots movement. Women and men all over Ireland, with no background in politics or activism, stepped forward. They spoke with friends and family, knocked on doors and handed out leaflets.

I want to acknowledge, in particular, the women and men who shared their own stories. Their testimonies were deeply personal. In many cases, they were deeply painful, yet still they spoke. I campaigned in Wicklow with women and men who were willing to knock on the doors of strangers and talk about what they had been through. It was an incredibly brave and powerful thing for them to have done. On Friday the Irish people responded. They did so in unprecedented numbers and with compassion.

If my information is correct, this Saturday, seven days after the result was announced, the eighth amendment will no longer exist in Bunreacht na hÉireann. Now it falls to us in this House to bring in the required legislation. Yesterday, we heard that the aim is to have the legislation passed in October and for the healthcare services to be fully operational by January 2019. We need to get the regulations, the legislation and medical care right.

If it takes the next seven months to do that, so be it. We will support all efforts to that end.

There are measures which do not have to wait until next year and which could be introduced in the coming weeks. In cases of fatal foetal abnormality, travelling to the UK can cost families thousands of euro. We should cover those costs for families from now and make it free. Contraception could be made free now. Additional funding for counselling services could be provided. Both the 1995 Act governing the provision of information and section 22 of the 2013 Act could be repealed now. That would end criminalisation. Before the Minister and I spoke yesterday, I submitted a Bill to the Bills Office which would achieve both of those objectives. The Minister has asked us to hold off for two weeks to give him and the officials time to focus on the legislation. We are more than happy to facilitate that.

Last Friday, Ireland took a giant leap forward. However, many more steps need to happen. Women are paid less than men. They have much smaller pensions and have much less control over financial assets than men. They are massively under-represented in politics and business. They are far more at risk of poverty traps than men. They are also much more at risk of domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment. If we are to create a truly equal Ireland in which money and power are shared between men and women, radical change is required. Friday was a day of radical change. My hope and determination is that we can use that momentum to create more radical and important change in this country and a genuinely equal Ireland for women and men.

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