Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regardless of why it was included, it was included and, to my mind, it clearly formed part of what the people voted for and, for that reason, even though I do not agree with it, I will be supporting its inclusion and the inclusion of everything that lines up with the heads of the Bill.

The same approach should be taken with all proposals to amend this Bill. The question we must ask of every proposed amendment is whether it falls within the parameters of the heads of the Bill and, if it does, it is incumbent upon us to reflect upon the merits of the proposed amendment to see if it should be included.

As someone who campaigned for the repeal of the eight amendment, removing the eight amendment was an historic and important day for Ireland and particularly for the women of Ireland, but let us not stop with this important move. Many other areas need attention. We need many more supports in place for women with crisis pregnancies. If we do this and we get it right, we can reduce the number of crisis pregnancies and the number of terminations. That has been achieved in other countries and there is no reason we cannot do it here. We need to see investment in education. We need free contraception. We need free childcare in third level institutions. We need the removal of poverty traps for women who are working and have children. If we do all those things, which we must, we can begin to make great inroads into reducing the number of crisis pregnancies and supporting women, as they must be supported.

If we are going to provide services for the termination of pregnancy free of charge, which I fully support, then we must also provide healthcare services attached to pregnancy free of charge. It would be perverse to make healthcare services related to the termination of pregnancy free while charging for healthcare relating to continuation of pregnancy. Let us make it all free. Let us take this matter very seriously. I spoke to my colleague, Deputy Brassil, this morning and he gave me an example in this context. There is a drug called Cariban which is to help pregnant women who are suffering from extreme vomiting. Between the drug and the potential admission to hospital for intravenous, IV fluids, it can cost somewhere between €1,500 and €3,000 during a pregnancy, and that is not covered by the medical card. Let us remove the costs of pregnancy in their totality. Let us make sure the needed resources are provided more broadly for women's health. We have had CervicalCheck, symphysiotomy, Portiuncula Hospital, the Tuam mother and baby home and the Magdalen laundries. Scandal after scandal in healthcare in this country has related to women's health and, in the main, to women's reproductive health. It must stop.

Let us also look beyond healthcare. We need a comprehensive approach to tackling violence against women, including the issue of consent. We need gender proofing of budgets and of major Government policies.

Repealing the eight amendment was important. Let us make sure that momentum continues as we work to make Ireland a truly equal Republic.

See this speech in context