Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister addressed the Seanad on 10 February 2022, he acknowledged that introducing a law to create exclusion zones outside abortion facilities would push up against civil liberties, yet he persisted in bringing forward this Bill before this House. In the same intervention in the Seanad he publicly admitted that he was rejecting the advice of An Garda Síochána that a Bill such as this was unnecessary. In rejecting the advice of An Garda Síochána, he thanked the abortion-supporting group Together for Safety for informing the development of legislative proposals he was bringing forward. It should be pointed out that Together for Safety, the group on which he relied so heavily for guidance in producing this Bill, is the same group that alleged that intimidatory anti-abortion protests were taking place outside University Hospital Limerick along with other places. That led to the unprecedented move of University Limerick Hospitals Group issuing a public statement clarifying that no such protest had ever taken place outside that hospital. The Minister has stood back and allowed the pro-life movement to be demonised, besmirched and vilified while knowing full well the charges that had been levelled against ordinary, decent people who happen to hold a different view to him on abortion are completely baseless. The Minister knows full well that if the kind of harassing or intimidatory incidents that have been cited were to arise, existing public order legislation would be sufficiently robust to deal with them. He and his Cabinet colleagues know that is the case. Yet he has demonstrated an obsession with introducing exclusion zones while turning a blind eye to Ireland's skyrocketing abortion rates.

No one in this House wants to see the harassment or intimidation of anyone in society - that should go without saying - but the Bill before us today is not about addressing that issue. No one should want to see any group of individuals singled out and criminalised for exercising their right to peacefully assemble, but sadly, that is what the Bill before us is about. Charging a group of young people or a group of inoffensive elderly people for peacefully and quietly praying outside an abortion facility is a heavy-handed, disproportionate and authoritarian-style law to bring forward. That people would face prosecution and penalties or fines of up to €2,500 and six months' imprisonment for holding a silent pro-life vigil is an outrageous attack on civil liberties. Article 40.6 of the Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions and the right of citizens to assemble peacefully. The Bill before us is, I believe, in serious breach of that article of the Constitution. The wording of the Bill is so broad and ill-considered that, if given effect, it would ban debates on abortion on university campuses, given that most third-level campuses maintain health clinics. Under the Minister's Bill, as he will know, any pro-life advocacy or postering would be prohibited within 100 m of all health facilities. That would have a chilling effect on freedom of speech, not just on university campuses but in countless other situations throughout the country.

In the haste to bring forward this Bill to appease radical abortion supporters, the Minister has introduced a reckless and unworkable Bill that, if voted through, will trample on civil liberties and do immense damage to trust in government and the institutions of the State. The motivation behind the Bill has been clear from the get-go. It has nothing to do with public safety. It is about silencing pro-life opposition to the Government's abortion law and nothing else. That is abundantly clear when you take a close look at what it proposes. I urge Deputies to vote against this extreme and oppressive Bill.

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