Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Measaim go bhfuil sé tábhachtach go bhfuil deis agam labhairt ar an mBille seo, ach go háirithe tar éis do Theachta ó mo pháirtí labhairt romham, agus an chuma ar an mhéid a bhí le rá aige go bhfuil sé i gcoinne na reachtaíochta seo. I can state wholeheartedly that Sinn Féin endorses this Bill despite the comments from Teachta Tóibín. We will do our damnedest to ensure this Bill will come into effect at the earliest possible opportunity. I know the committee is already willing and able to receive this Bill to deal with Committee Stage on 7 November and I wish it well. Much of the debate that has been had here tonight needs to be had in that forum. We had alternative views on, for example, what Deputy Jan O'Sullivan just mentioned, with section 5 to be moved to the more appropriate part of the Bill as is the norm in legislation. We can have that debate and not unduly delay it.

What is the people's voice? The people have spoken. Some 64.1% of the people voted in favour of a proposal which had the endorsement of the vast majority of Teachtaí in this House. In my own constituency, although it was a low turnout compared with elsewhere, it was a high turnout for a referendum and much higher than I expected at the outset. Dublin South-Central was one of the top ten constituencies which endorsed the proposal which was proposed by all parties in the constituency. Some 74.91% voted for it. I am happy with that and that I played a small part. It was perhaps not as much as I should have but I played my part. I found that very rewarding.

I, like many other Deputies, was not involved in the preparatory committees, which received the Citizens' Assembly's report and teased out properly, in full public view, the very complex issues. Medical issues can be very complex. They teased it out and I congratulate them, as I have in recent months, for their diligence in that work. They put it before the people and the Minister had the courage to produce legislation and explain to the public that this is where we are going and the idea that we have but that we first wanted the public, before we could publish and be specific with legislation, to remove a clause inserted in the Constitution.

I believe it was inserted at a time when Irish people could not speak out. It was a different era. While I was waiting, I was thinking back to when the eighth amendment was inserted into the Constitution. It is sometimes very hard for people to remember that far back. One has to remember the society that we had before and after that. We have learned some of it since. We have had quite a number of clerical sex abuse reports which emerged after that. The huge scandals which we now in some ways take for granted were hidden in that era. In the background, people were afraid to speak out against the institutions of the State or those who they felt the State was protecting, whether in Cloyne, Tuam or a range of other places. Remember Ann Lovett in Granard or Eileen Flynn in Wexford, a woman who was sacked from her job because she had the audacity to live with the father of her child, who was separated. She subsequently married him and had four other children. She was sacked because she had the audacity to infringe upon the morals of society. The Kerry babies case was another. Divorce was another issue. What the hell were we doing? People were not allowed to divorce. The whole world was going to collapse if we voted in divorce. That is the way it was presented by some of the very same people who will now say that if we introduce this legislation, our society will collapse around us. Homosexuality is another example.

In recent years, we have been lucky with the public because they are willing to talk and we have given them the opportunity to talk in referendums. We have had civil partnerships, marriage equality and the repeal of the eighth amendment. The numbers turning out for referendums in the recent past is way beyond what I remember in the 1980s and 1990s. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan was correct when she was talking about people looking for condoms to be sold. The whole world was going to collapse because the poor sperm could not get anywhere. They are alive and well, going by the number of kids I see day in and day out. The world has not collapsed because we have the maturity to debate these issues and reflect them in our laws. There is a whole range of issues and that is part of the context.

During the debate on the referendum, I found myself having preconceived ideas. One would knock on a door and an elderly woman would answer. Maybe this is due to my prejudices. I would presume that this woman might have a go at me, being a churchgoer or whatever. I found that the vast majority of women in my constituencies were delighted to talk to me on this issue, which was not the case in the past, and delighted that they were given an opportunity to vote yes. I was pleasantly surprised and my prejudices were therefore shattered. I was happy that that was so. My colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, will represent Sinn Féin on the committee. She alone will put forward amendments on behalf of our party. All parliamentarians are entitled to take part in committee procedures and can indicate-----

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