Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My constituents have endorsed my view by voting overwhelmingly in favour of repealing the eighth amendment, as did Deputy Mattie McGrath's.

To answer Deputy Tóibín's question, it is somebody else's job to this. It is the job of the obstetric community. Those pro-life Deputies in the House - and I think we all consider ourselves to be pro-life - who are against the legislation must agree with that also. If they believed that a pain relief provision must be included in primary legislation, surely to God they would have included it for women as well. They have not done so, however, because they know doctors will do that, just as doctors will also take every appropriate step to protect babies. That is what they do. To suggest anything else would be a slur on their profession.

Deputies Butler, Aindrias Moynihan and Eugene Murphy asked for assurances. I cannot write the clinical guidelines, nor would anybody want me to, but I can assure them that our clinicians know how to carry out procedures and operate in an ethical manner in accordance with the Medical Council. I have absolutely no doubt about that. Our doctors go into hospitals every day to ease pain and I have no doubt that all these issues will be considered when the clinical guidelines are being drawn up. What we cannot do in this House is don the white coats and the stethoscopes and become obstetricians and gynaecologists. We are policymakers. Pain relief and care pathways come from doctors, not politicians.

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