Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Deputies who have contributed to this debate. There are legitimately-held and deeply-held views on this issue and we must listen to each other and do so carefully and respectfully. Ultimately, it is important we do what is right by women in protecting both them and the service providers in accessing healthcare.

That is what this is about. In July of last year, the Government approved draft legislation to ensure safe access to premises at which termination services are provided, or may be provided. Since that time, my Department has worked with stakeholders to draft the text of the Bill that is before us now. The Bill will allow patients, service providers, healthcare staff and members of the public to enter and leave premises without fear of intimidation or harassment. It will promote dignity and autonomy of individual decisions in relation to healthcare matters and protect them from unsolicited influence.

As we conclude the Second Stage debate on the Bill here today and move on to Committee Stage, I assure colleagues that I have listened very carefully. I have been at all three of the sessions to listen to the views held. It has been a very respectful debate. I am mindful that some of the concerns raised around certain aspects of the legislation on both sides of this exchange are ones that people want to be looked at and I assure colleagues that I am here to listen. We will reflect on this.

Officials from my Department have engaged extensively with the Office of the Attorney General and other stakeholders through the drafting of the Bill so that the legislation was considered carefully. We will now review the issues raised in the course of this debate and we will re-engage where that is necessary and where it is appropriate. I very much look forward to discussing these issues on Committee Stage.

I want to reiterate that this is a complex area of law, as many colleagues have said, regardless of one's view on termination services. We are balancing competing constitutional rights. We have rightfully heard from many contributors to the debate that it is vitally important that women can access lawfully available services without fear, harassment or intimidation, and that healthcare providers can provide them.

My own long-standing position on this is clear in terms of the legislation and the need for it. However, it is equally important that the impact of the proposed legislation on the rights of those affected is proportionate to the objectives we seek to achieve. Freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion are fundamental rights in a democratic society. They are fundamental rights in our society.

Ireland has significant human rights commitments and obligations, both domestically in the Constitution, and internationally. Article 40.6.1° of Bunreacht na hÉireann provides that the State guarantees liberty for the exercise, subject to public order and morality, of the right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions, and also the right of the citizens to assemble peaceably.

Similar rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, to freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

While these freedoms are subject to exceptions, the United Nations has specified that states should establish in law a positive presumption in favour of peaceful assembly. This means there is a very delicate balance to be struck in this Bill to address this. I believe the Bill does strike the balance that is required. It acknowledges and promotes, on a proportionate basis, the human and constitutional rights involved. It also ensures safe access to termination of pregnancy services for women, service providers and their staff across the country. This will be achieved by designating safe access zones of 100 m from an entrance or exit to a premises where obstetricians, gynaecologists and GPs provide services.

The Bill is a general prohibition on expression, assembly or protest in relation to termination of pregnancy services. It does not interfere with the right to advocate in favour or against abortion, apart from in the limited areas covered by safe access zones and in the limited fashion covered by the concept of "prohibited conduct" as set out in section 2.

Furthermore, section 3 sets out exemptions that may apply in the context of prohibited conduct within safe access zones and, in doing so, it further acknowledges and promotes the balancing of various rights. The mechanism of the Garda warning also enhances legal certainty and protection of rights, and provides the person concerned with the opportunity to avoid committing an offence.

In moving the Bill forward, we mark another milestone in advancing women's healthcare in Ireland, and I believe we do so in a way that respects the rights of all concerned. This Bill will allow women to access lawful healthcare services without intimidation. It will allow service providers and their staff to provide these services without intimidation. It will also allow those who wish to advocate in favour or against abortion to continue to do so except in the limited circumstances in the Bill. I commend the Bill to the House.

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