Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will start by giving some facts and figures and then I will explain the reason I am doing so. On 27 October 1967, abortion was passed in the UK. On 27 April 1968, abortion came into effect in the UK. From 1968 to 2014, a total of 8,745,508 abortions were performed. According to the World Health Organization, between 40 million and 50 million abortions are estimated to be taking place every year, which is 125 abortions every day. The reason I am giving these figures is that I am very concerned at what is going to happen in Northern Ireland. In 2017, the UK Government announced that it was going to publicly pay for abortions in Northern Ireland. Since that has been introduced, there has been between 40% and 60% of an increase in abortions in Northern Ireland.

I am concerned that the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is trying to find a way to pay for residents in Northern Ireland to have abortions in Ireland. I fear what is going to happen in this country.

As one of my colleagues said earlier, in the wake of the referendum it has been shown that 59% of the people of Ireland are opposed to the taxpayer funding this. The Bill as it stands provides for the full cost to be carried by the taxpayers. We are forcing our taxpayers to pay for the abortions. I fear for this country. Ireland used to be one of the safest countries in the world to have a child. Now all of a sudden my big fear is that what happened in Northern Ireland will happen in the Republic of Ireland. We are opening a floodgate to have abortion on demand in Ireland.

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