Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We had a very lengthy discussion on this issue last night and I thank the Ceann Comhairle, who has just left, for his intervention asking for a reasonable and respectful debate. Amendment No. 4 was put down in good faith by Deputy Nolan and I support it wholeheartedly. As we know from the Amarach polls, 44% of those who voted to repeal the eighth amendment said they did not want to have to pay for abortion in Ireland. That is obvious but polls suit the Minister when they suit him and more times they do not suit him. There were attacks on us at the committee and there have been attacks on those who have put down a limited number of reasonable amendments. They were 10% of the total on Committee Stage. On Report Stage, we have 16 amendments of a total of approximately 60. As such, we cannot be accused of holding up, delaying or frustrating this process in any way. As Oireachtas Members, we have the right to put down amendments and deal with them. The fact that there was no pre-legislative scrutiny is all the more reason we had to table them. The Minister requested that we would have no pre-legislative scrutiny. The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill was introduced in the House in 2016 by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, and it is only now on the same Stage as this Bill. It is clear, therefore, that this is being rushed with gusto. People are trying to intimidate us and rule us out. We are told the people have voted and that we must go with the flow and let the Minister do what he likes and care as he likes. We are doing no more than we entitled to do, namely move the amendments and speak to them. We are entitled to do so with respect and to be respected for these amendments. It is no different to the position with the amendments we tabled to the Finance Bill this week. It is what we are doing with the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Regulation Bill tomorrow. It is the same with all legislation. Oireachtas Members have been subjected to totally unfair criticism, including in the media. If we did not do this, in particular in the absence of pre-legislative scrutiny, we would be errant in our duty.

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