Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Today marks five years since the result of the referendum in which the people voted overwhelmingly to remove the eight amendment from the Constitution. We saw a very welcome change in the law to enable women to access abortion services here in Ireland. Five years on, however, too many women are still not able to access abortion here. We know that more than 770 women have travelled to Britain for abortion services that they cannot access here since we changed the law. For those women, therefore, the problem has not been solved, nor has it been for the many women who still have to travel across counties to access services, as we see so little provision in some counties by GPs and by hospitals.

I know that Deputy Bríd Smith raised this issue earlier and we will debate her Bill later. I welcomed the recommendations of the O'Shea review and called for necessary legislative changes. Will the Tánaiste clarify what he said earlier about the expansion of services across the country, in maternity hospitals in particular? Can we see increased provision by GPs? That does not require legislative change and it is essential for women.

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