Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this.

I am delighted to see that we are at this stage. It is five years since we repealed the eight amendment and as I find myself often saying in this Chamber around issues that disproportionately affect women, everything seems to be a battle, and if it was not for the women and the advocacy groups that continue that battle, would we actually be here? I look forward to the day when we can be in here discussing issues that are not both long overdue and years in the making.

I particularly welcome this in relation to rural areas. My constituency is a good mix of urban and rural and there are many areas where there are no services being provided. I am not even necessarily talking about hospitals, but merely from a GP point of view. If one has a situation where it is known that there is only one GP or two providing this service in a rural county or in part of a rural constituency, that can become the target for protesters. It is very difficult for a woman in this situation.

I stress that any woman in that situation does not make that decision lightly. Sometimes people who have a very different view on this debate - they are entitled to that view - talk about it as if somehow people will be lining up for a termination and that is not the case. If one is going into a rural area and one is met with a bunch of protestors, that is extremely intimidating. It is totally unfair. We would not tolerate that in any other area of healthcare and it is totally and utterly unacceptable.

It is also unacceptable for the GPs. When this came out, this was new for GPs and practitioners, who are overrun and have a very high workload too.

They signed up for this in good faith but have suddenly become the target. Again, that is more acute and more difficult in our rural areas. I will mention the hospital in Carlow-Kilkenny. It is based in Kilkenny but it services the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny. It does not provide abortion services at present, although I believe that is changing, hopefully by the end of this year. I believe somebody will come on board in September who is willing to provide the service, which is welcome. I look forward to that for women in those counties who need to access that service.

I will briefly mention a matter that is not directly part of this debate - it is all linked - namely, the three-day waiting period. We had another Bill in respect of that issue a few weeks ago that I was glad to see was passed. I mention that and link it to this Bill because the waiting period is also a deterrent to some GPs, particularly where they are under pressure. Many people will tell you that when they ring a GP for any service, they nearly have to try to schedule their illness in advance. That is not the fault of GPs. It is, unfortunately, just the way things have gone due to the GP shortage. However, if there is a situation where somebody comes in and there has to be a three-day waiting period, that is a deterrent for the GP to potentially sign up. That is one part of the argument. My main issue and difficulty with the waiting period is its total distrust of women and the suggestion that they somehow need extra time to consider or think about this. I just do not believe we would see this if it related to an area of men's healthcare. It goes back to the same mindset of distrust all the time. I look forward to the legislation on the removal of the three-day waiting period also progressing.

I welcome the Bill. It is positive and I am glad the Minister is bringing it forward. It is long overdue but at least we are at this Stage. Hopefully, it will progress rapidly through the rest of the Stages so we can actually see it up and running, in practice, and being of benefit to women in those vulnerable situations, in addition to medical professionals, who deserve to be able to go about their business. On the reference to protests, as someone who has been on several protests over the years on various issues, I always welcome people's right to do that. However, I believe that outside the House is the appropriate place for that because the vast majority of protests are somewhat linked to legislation and policy. People have no business and no place intimidating those outside GP or other medical services. Protests need to take place where decisions are being made. People who want to protest should do so outside Leinster House and not where they would intimidate women.

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