Results 20,561-20,580 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: Yes, that is amendment No. 146 to section 22(9)(c) on page 23. It also states "that the materials referred to", which I presume are the counter-abortion materials, "in subsection (7) shall include: (a) information to a woman contemplating abortion of public and private agencies and services available to assist a woman through pregnancy, upon childbirth, and while her child is dependent...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: On a point of order, it is not good parliamentary procedure to personalise a debate.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: The Chairman is encouraging me. I wish to refer to two things. I repeat what I said yesterday. I believe that the people who tabled these amendments to the Bill did so in good faith. I do not think they constructed the amendments. I have no doubt about that. I believe they were constructed by other people with other agendas. We need to know and acknowledge that. A deep distrust of...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: This is about information. If Deputy Tóibín listens for a minute he will get a bit of information. It was alleged at the time of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 that the proposal in that legislation would lead to the floodgates opening and women going for abortions on a daily basis as if in an amusement arcade.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: The Deputy was totally wrong. If people had studied the submissions made at the special committee they would have seen that. The public have acknowledged that. That is what they voted on, namely, a recognition that women did not have abortions for the fun of it. As they saw it, a parental, maternal bond, unique to women was being violated. They were concerned about it and they expressed...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: On a point of order, Chairman.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: I wish to raise a point of order. The committee was referred to as a quango. Was the decision of the Irish people also the decision of a quango?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: I am asking you.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: This is a very important element of the legislation and we have to respect the rights of conscientious objectors in all parts of the profession. We must recognise they have concerns that are entitled to be catered for, and we must cater for them. I note the 650 doctors who have signed the petition to the effect that they do not propose to participate. In his reply perhaps the Minister will...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: On a brief point of order, Chairman, as to what the pro-choice TDs want - in fact the people voted in a referendum-----

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: -----lest that point has gone astray-----

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: -----anywhere - this was not a concoction of Members of this House. This was as a result of a solemn referendum, a plebiscite among the people; one will not get any better mandate than that.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: I wish to make a correction, Chair. It was a referendum held on the basis of the heads of the Bill being published beforehand and the-----

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: When we are discussing a matter and something is thrown out into the ether, I would ask that we be factual.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: On a point of order. This is misleading information which the Deputy is trying to reinsert into the debate.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: No, Chairman.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: The Deputy is responding to yesterday evening's debate.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: I want to clarify something.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: I will refuse to sit and listen to something that I know to be untrue and which is being repeated again and again. There is no basis in the legislation at all for the conclusion being reached in terms of what is actually happening. The information that is being put to the House at the present time is misleading.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Initiatives (8 Nov 2018)

Bernard Durkan: 18. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which he continues to address the stigmatisation of rural or urban communities in view of the fact that such communities are in decline (details supplied); his plans to address the emerging image of rural communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45951/18]