Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising two issues, namely, the constitutional amendments and the review of the operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. She consistently endeavours to characterise the Government's position as one of patronising women. She is entitled to her perspectives but so are people on the Government side of the House. I do not believe her characterisation of the Government's position is an accurate one.

The amendments to the Constitution we have proposed in respect of 8 March were the subject of a lot of detailed work by the Cabinet sub-committee and a great deal of legal advice on the optimal position and on removing language that is clearly anachronistic and outdated in respect of women, the aim being to modernise the Constitution and play constitutional catch-up, as one Minister put it.

That has been debated around this House and in committees for 20-odd years. It is now going to happen and the Government is going to deliver that. There is a change regarding care that has not been in the Constitution before.

There is a legitimate debate in terms of the separation of powers about how much we want it to be deliberated on by the courts and how much we want it to be deliberated on by the Executive and the Oireachtas. This is a fundamental debate that should not be sneered at or dismissed because it is the Oireachtas that must allocate resources and prioritise the allocation of resources. That is a consideration in terms of the ultimate formula or amendments that have been brought forward. Ultimately, if you get the balance wrong, you cede all decision making to the courts and denude Parliament and the Executive of the day of any capacity sometimes to target resources and prioritise the allocation of resources because resources are finite. That is perhaps for another day.

Regarding the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act, an operational group was established as a consequence of that report to progress the implementation of the operational recommendations and a draft implementation and action plan has been developed. That implementation group is a multidisciplinary group comprising healthcare professionals across the termination of pregnancy pathway and service users and it is chaired by the national women and infants health programme. Significant progress is being made in respect of various recommendations in the report and a significant number of additional sites have introduced termination services in the past months. Legislation providing for safe access zones has now passed all Stages in Dáil Éireann and will now go before the Seanad. The proposal recommending legislative changes has been referred to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health for consideration. Termination services in early pregnancy are currently provided in 17 out of the 19 maternity hospitals. This is a significant addition to what was the case a year ago.

See this speech in context