Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

These people want her to lead the way. As a woman and as Minister for Health, she has the ability to do that. I implore her to do it. There are girls who have given up sport and who cannot go to school. Education is needed here. There are girls and women who every month cannot go to work or are out of work for long periods. They have lost their jobs and lost their friends, because they have not been able to go to things. They have not been able to socialise. They have been trapped in their rooms in pain. For all these girls and young women, what we are proposing tonight does not come from Sinn Féin but from all these people up in the Public Gallery and their families who live this every day. I ask the Minister to withdraw her amendment and to run with this motion.

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