Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to respond to something that was just said by Deputy Donnelly in support of the Minister. He called for something he did not table as an amendment, which is that when it comes to having the review after three years, as amended by the Minister, we would have the input of this House. If he wanted the input of the House before the review takes place, the he should have tabled an amendment to that effect. Amendment No. 12 has had the input of many Members and it is prescriptive about the review but provides that "it shall include" the elements listed, as was said. We are discussing barriers to access such as criminalisation and the chill factor. We will later discuss other barriers when it comes to whether doctors who avail of conscientious objection will have to report to the Minister that they have conscientiously objected. That is not provided for in the Bill. Amendments providing for access to services from Northern Ireland have been ruled out of order. Let us see the impact of these provisions in three years. Deputy Donnelly thinks we should have the input of the House; this amendment results from the input of a large section of the House, including those of us who are on the joint committee and many female Deputies. We want to see these issues included in the review and there is no amendment that provides for going back to the House in three years.

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