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

-----of the party unless Deputy O'Reilly indicates it. Whatever Deputy Tóibín said earlier is not a representation of our party which has, over the years, had quite a strong stance on repealing the eighth amendment, though maybe not as strong as some people would like. We have had a debate virtually every single year on the issue of repealing the eighth amendment and we have been happy to be proven wrong in many ways. We changed our position when the nuances of law were teased out by the Citizens' Assembly and then by the committee. We do not decide in the parliamentary party. Our members vote. Coming back to the position that Deputy Mattie McGrath is hinting at, that this is not a democracy, for the last three years, our Ard-Fheis has taken a view that Sinn Féin Deputies will vote in unison on this issue because that is what the membership agreed.

They agreed by a bigger vote each year, despite the motions which were put to try to change it, so we will be in unison on this issue. It is not undemocratic control. It is quite democratic. It is probably more democratic than many others who have spoken in this House on the opposite side.

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