Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

This is a most important debate. I would like in my short contribution to think of no one else except the unborn people. I am not just calling them babies; they were people. They would have been people if they had been born and not aborted. There were 8,156 abortion procedures in 2022. Only 22 of those were performed due to the risk to life or health. Four were emergency situations, and 88 were carried out due to fatal foetal abnormalities. The majority of terminations, 8,042, were conducted in early pregnancy under the provisions of section 12 of the Act. Where did what the Minister sold to the public go? He said this would be so rare it would be only in special cases and would not promote abortion. What the Minister did has promoted abortion. The figures stand up in that regard.

Not only are the statistics extremely concerning, but to me, they are shameful, in that this is not what I believe people wanted or were looking for, but it is what they got. They got it because the Government and Opposition were hell-bent on it because, in many cases, they wet a finger and saw which way the wind was blowing. Those politicians did not lead. They followed the wind and the media. They followed the newspaper editorials that said this was what Ireland desperately needed to become more modern and European and to move out of the doldrums. I do not think it is what we need.

In our own way, our group of Deputies represent many people, too, including people who would not agree with what the Government wants to do now.

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