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

People Before Profit warmly welcomes our colleagues from South Africa. It is good to see them here. I do not know how much they know about this little island but it is partitioned and there are things that impact on either side quite harshly sometimes. One of those is women's rights. On the very historic day we got the repeal referendum result and we all gathered and celebrated in Dublin Castle, some young women from the North held up a banner saying the North was next. However, five years later, I am afraid the North has gone ahead of the South in terms of its access to abortion rights. This leaves a lot to be corrected in this State, not only because there should be a shared island from the point of view of women's health, but also because the recent review by Ms Marie O'Shea shows some really gaping holes in the legislation here for women's reproductive health. I ask the Taoiseach about that and ask him to comment on the need for a real shared island in terms of people's lived life experience and access to healthcare and women's healthcare in this case.

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