Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an mBille seo. I begin by clearly stating that, as a pro-life republican Deputy, I am opposed to the Bill in its entirety. After reading the Bill, reflecting on it and listening to the speeches made by party leaders in this Chamber, I have many questions and serious concerns. Is it the intention of the Government and other party leaders to make this country the tourism abortion destination of choice? Is the first principle of Irish unity that Dublin extends abortion services to women and citizens from the North? That seems to be where we are heading with this Bill. Just because a law is passed does not make it a just law. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights that exist.

Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, once referred to it as a plan of wolf in sheep's clothing and of Trojan horse proportions. She grouped abortion alongside infanticide, racism and oppression. A nation that kills its own people has well and truly lost its way. We face a serious violation of the civil rights of the unborn child. How can the values and dreams of the Irish people survive if we kill our yet-to-be-born children? This violation of civil rights is nothing short of an insult to the men and women of 1916 and it greatly undermines the values of the 1916 proclamation which makes reference to cherishing all of the children of the nation equally. Of course, the parties in here have turned their backs on that Proclamation.

Taxpayers did not vote to fund abortion and that includes many who voted to repeal as well as more than 730,000 who voted "No". The results of a recent Amárach opinion poll showed that 60% of people opposed taxpayer funding of abortion. Maybe we need to have a second vote to find out if the people want to fund abortion. As we all know, party leaders are adept at voting twice on the same issue. The Nice and Lisbon treaties come to mind. Why not the issue of taxpayers' funding of abortion?

It is very clear that the electorate and the grassroots of the main political parties represented in this House have been duped and betrayed. Instead of raising the standards of political representation and upholding values and Ireland's global national identity, one that sees us recognised as the gold standard for family with respect for life, party leaders have colluded to dismantle the people's constitutional protection for the most vulnerable, the unborn child.

Long-held principles of respect for life which were once enshrined in our Constitution are being maliciously set aside. To make matters worse, many good men and women in this House are being bullied into fear, silence and obedience. The fear of not being reselected by party leaders has forced many to remain silent to the cry of the voiceless and submissive to an agenda that silences all opposing opinion or thought. So much for freedom, equality, choice and compassion.

As a pro-life republican woman, my conscience stands above and beyond any party diktat. My conscience does not allow me to support policies of abortion and lack of freedom of conscience. I am not afraid to stand before the voters in Laois and Offaly and keep or lose my seat, whatever the case may be, at the next election. My constituents know me. They know who I am and the values I uphold. They know that they can trust me and they know that I will not do dirty political deals just for the sake of power or bow to populist rhetoric under pressure.

The common good is being politically and systematically erased from society. Now the Government seeks to brand decent people in every county as abortion funders. If this House has no conscience, if this House does not respect and uphold the vital need to protect the unborn, if this House is deaf to the cries of the vulnerable and the voiceless, then this House needs to be pulled down and rebuilt because it is in decay.

The Government needs to go. It is better for the Government to go than for the whole nation to be lost and brought down. I appeal to Members of this House to think for themselves, outside of leader diktat. The Bill before us is extreme and harsh, and people need to speak up.

Those who celebrated the vote in May and who are cheering on the legislation would do well to take a moment to consider the lives they are comfortable to destroy. It is worrying that the Bill's definition of viability has become even more unclear at the precise moment when the scope of conscientious objection for health professionals contracts alarmingly. For the thousands of pro-life doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists working in our healthcare system, this is deeply worrying. I commend all those who came out today to protest against this injustice, because that is what it is - a grave injustice. I stand with those health professionals who are being unfairly treated.

Amid all the self-congratulatory tweets, selfies and posts, the Minister, Deputy Harris, seems to have forgotten that almost 750,000 of our people are on waiting lists in our health system.

Some of those patients are children waiting for scoliosis treatment or elderly people who have paid their taxes for 40 years and who are now waiting for hip operations. It is a disgrace. The Taoiseach may have forgotten about the health and the housing crises, as well as the difficulties which farm families are experiencing, how post offices in rural Ireland are closing, with communities declining, and how carers are unable to receive the help they so badly need.

Freedom of conscience is not something which was unique to pre-repeal Ireland and it is not something which can be extinguished in post-repeal Ireland either. It is a vital human right which is protected within our Constitution and, indeed, within the European Convention on Human Rights. Throughout the world, many states which allow for abortion recognise the fact that a large number of workers in their healthcare sectors cannot bring themselves to participate in ending the lives of some of their smallest and most vulnerable patients. In spite of the result in May, it is also abundantly clear that the overwhelming majority of the Irish people support freedom of conscience.

Under the Minister's new plans, every pro-life doctor would be forced to refer patients to those GPs who they knew were ready and willing to help end the lives of vulnerable unborn children. Let us take a moment to consider the situation facing pro-life doctors, nurses and pharmacists in dealing with requests for abortion pills. They know they are dealing with not one patient, but two. They know the second patient is in mortal danger and that they can do nothing to protect them. Imagine, too, that the GP involved is being asked to aid in the destruction of that tiny developing life. Imagine he or she is being asked to sign a form to help move their patients on to another step in the journey, a step which destroys one and wounds the other. How could anyone ask that this doctor be forced to violate his or her conscience to such an enormous degree?

In spite of public and professional support for protecting the rights of our healthcare professionals, the legislation the Government has proposed does not provide a positive right for conscientious objection. What the Minister is proposing is not the same as that which exists in the UK. It is, in fact, much worse. Even Britain's infamous Abortion Act 1967, which has led to more than 8 million lives being lost over half a century, states that no person will be obliged to perform an abortion. Under the current proposals here, however, employers and professional groups in Ireland will be able impose a duty on medical professionals to carry out these procedures which are so against their deepest beliefs about the sanctity of life and the importance of protecting it.

I commend the Catholic hospitals on standing firm against this new penal law, which is not being introduced by British colonisers this time but by political leaders in this country who claim to uphold and respect all in society. They do not respect them. Not only could the legislation, as it is currently drafted, open the door to doctors, nurses and midwives being forced to participate in performing abortions, it also does not provide any protection for pharmacists, who may soon discover that they have no choice but to be involved in the dispensing of abortion pills to patients. We owe it to our hard-working doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists not to force them to do things which go against their deepest beliefs. That is why freedom of conscience must be respected within this legislation.

By continuing down this destructive path, the Minister risks doing even more damage to the already creaking health service. Unless conscientious objectors are protected within the law, we are going to lose hundreds, if not thousands, of our best and most hard-working and dedicated GPs, gynaecologists, nurses and midwives. Our pro-life medical professionals, like all our other medical professionals, deserve thanks for all they do to care for those within society. The least we can do is ensure they can continue to do this vital work without violating their deepest beliefs.

It is also vital that there be no reduction in the mandatory 72-hour waiting period. This was a core part of the proposals on which the Government fought its referendum campaign. It is also vital that abortions are prohibited on grounds of disability. Unborn babies with disabilities should be protected. After all, we talk about an inclusive and accepting society with equality for all. I am aware of the fact the group Disability Voices for Life has written to the Minister on this matter, seeking a meeting on a proposed amendment to the Bill. I support its call for such an amendment to be made to this harsh and needlessly extreme Bill.

The allocation of an initial amount of €12 million of taxpayers' money is only the beginning. This is a gross abuse of taxpayers' money. That any Government would allocate taxpayers' money to selectively discriminate and bring about the end of the life of an unborn baby is not only an unethical breach of voter trust, it is abhorrent. Such a Government is not worthy to represent or lead the Irish people. It is time for change: time for a change of Government and also, perhaps, for a change of party leaders. Nelson Mandela once stated, "The time is always right to do right. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same."

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