Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. In 2018, the people of this country voted to overhaul how we approach the issue of termination of pregnancies. We voted to give women control of their own bodies and their own healthcare. Five years on, we are still striving to provide an adequate system of healthcare for these services countrywide. This Bill seeks to fulfil and vindicate a long-standing commitment by the Government to provide for safe access zones at healthcare settings carrying out these procedures.

No woman seeking advice on a termination of pregnancy does so lightly. There is a complexity to life such that a great many factors influence pregnant women, and they must be discussed with the utmost sensitivity. I can only imagine the emotion involved for the women who engage with these services and the journey they go on to come to such a decision. It is not an easy one, nor is it one that many women would have envisaged taking. This underscores the importance of providing the highest degree of privacy, dignity and safety when accessing healthcare services relating to the termination of a pregnancy. The Bill seeks the introduction of a 100 m perimeter around such healthcare settings within which it will be prohibited that anyone may seek to influence or intimidate women attending. This does not represent a suppression of an individual's right to protest. Rather, it represents the protection of individuals' right to access healthcare without undue distress and intimidation.

I listened carefully to Deputy Shortall's contribution and I agree entirely with her on the question of constitutionality. We are not banning protests. We are just banning them from the vicinity of a facility. That is not a breach of the Constitution by any manner or means, although I fully expect it will be tested, which probably is not a bad thing. Many of us in this House will recall some of the materials sent to our offices during the 2012 legislative process and again at the time of the 2018 referendum. Some of that material was extreme and graphic in nature. No woman attending a healthcare setting should have to worry about encountering extreme or distressing content the like of which we saw.

In recent weeks, I received an email from a group I will not name protesting the idea of this Bill being brought to the floor of the House. A couple of days later, I got an email that included a map of Dublin city with little blue dots showing the location of all the healthcare facilities that provide abortion services. If you are opposed to legislation such as this, it stands to reason that you would want to know what you are talking about. However, I found it insidious that there is a group that has at its fingertips information, set out in a map, on every abortion service provider in Dublin city. I found it insidious because that information could be used to attempt to intimidate a service user. That is entirely unacceptable. The people spoke clearly in making their decision and the Oireachtas legislated for that decision. It is important for us to protect not just service users but staff of healthcare centres as well, who must also be made to feel safe in attending their place of work and must have confidence their work will not be interrupted through the actions of others.

I recognise that passion and belief can run high when discussing this subject and that there are those who will not support the Bill. However, we must ensure that, if passed, the appropriate measures are implemented to ensure adherence to safe access zones provision is upheld.

We must also require the relevant Departments to engage with law enforcement with regard to these matters and to provide clarity with regard to those procedural and operational processes my colleague mentioned.

On an unrelated subject, in my constituency of Dublin Fingal, we saw a number of protests at libraries that caused distress to staff and customers alike. This situation was made worse through a lack of clarity as to what the appropriate response should be. I therefore urge the Minister of State to ensure stakeholder engagement on the implementation of safe access zones is carried out.

I will end my contribution where I began. Fundamentally, as a country and as a Legislature, we have legalised these procedures. The people had their say and they spoke with exceptional clarity. It was a landslide. It was a decision to trust women to make the decisions that are best for them in their own situations. We must allow them to make those decisions with the respect and dignity they deserve.

I have a message for those who seek to impart their views to women approaching healthcare facilities: stay away, mind your business and leave healthcare to qualified, professional and sympathetic medical professionals because the people have spoken already.

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