Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hate to have to do so but I want to disassociate myself from the very personal comment made by my Fianna Fáil colleague, Deputy Thomas Byrne, because the one thing we need in this debate is respect and we should all be big enough, on any side of the House, to listen and to respect people's views.

On the other hand, the exposition by Deputy Kelleher was excellent. He was honest. Under 12 weeks there can be no protection or guarantee against any reason for having an abortion. We just will not know. That is very open and honest.

Many Deputies on this side of the House have an issue with the fact that when we look at the words of the Minister during the debate, he seemed to give a different impression. It is as simple as that.

I was not a Member of this House at the time, because I did not get elected to the Oireachtas until 1989, but I remember 1983. I remember that immediately afterwards, those who were on the losing side continued their campaign. When the law and the Constitution were different from what she wanted, Deputy Coppinger continued to campaign and promote her ideas and none of us ever said the people had spoken but she could do so. The day after, the campaign continued against-----

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