Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. There is a long-standing Government commitment to ensure safe access zones around healthcare facilities and providers of termination of pregnancy services. That includes hospitals as well as GP surgeries in some cases. The introduction of safe access zones is supported by clinicians providing the service. Safe access zones are designed to protect the freedom to access termination services without impediment and to provide privacy to people accessing health services, as well as the service providers, their staff, in the course of their duties and responsibilities.

The Minister for Health secured Cabinet approval to legislate for the designation of safe zones last July. The Bill was approved by Cabinet last week and will be introduced in the Dáil for debate later this week. It required striking a careful balance. We need to respect the right to protest and people have a right to protest, whether we agree with them or not, but we also need to protect the right of patients not to be intimidated when they go to see their doctors or when they enter hospitals to seek treatment. We have struck the right balance and any prosecutions will depend on the individual circumstances. There are defences set out in the legislation and it may yet be challenged on constitutional grounds. That is a possibility with any legislation but we think we have struck the right balance and the Attorney General advises us that it is constitutional. We had pre-legislative scrutiny and engagement with stakeholders and we think we have struck the right balance between respecting people's right to protest and to protest peacefully, while not doing so in a way that intimidates patients seeking to see their doctors or have a particular procedure done.

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