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

I do not know what the legal opinion is. The Minister is not showing it to us. There is a major contradiction in us being able to provide termination of pregnancy, free of charge, to people under the age of 17, but we are not prepared to provide them with the contraception that would prevent pregnancy in the first place. I find this bizarre.

I will not push it to a vote either because nobody wants to stop the provision of free contraception to people, even with the age limits that are outlined in the Bill. We hope the Minister will move very quickly to change that and will bring another Bill to get rid of this clause, once the legal complexities are worked through, but the situation is totally unsatisfactory. He keeps repeating he is in favouring of lowering the age but he will not do it. I find this whole conversation kind of bizarre because his answers are not satisfactory. Why did he explicitly put this provision in the Bill? We still do not know the answer to that.

This has significant implications for a very vulnerable cohort of people, including younger people, who can ill afford to pay for contraception. I do not know about where the Minister lives, but I live in a community where teenage pregnancy is an issue and the affordability of contraception is a major issue. Going to the doctor and buying any form of contraception is a significant issue for a certain class of people, including vulnerable people and young migrants. We are just throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It is disgraceful we are now being put in a position that voting against this amendment would make us look absolutely regressive. This clause is totally regressive.

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