Results 27,921-27,940 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: I thank the Seanad for facilitating the change of time. I wanted to be here with Members to take this Bill and to do so in the knowledge of Government decisions in regard to this matter today, which I thought would be useful in terms of informing the debate. I am very pleased to be here to introduce the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill to the Seanad. I have asked for copies...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: The main conclusion of the committee's work was that change is needed to extend the grounds for lawful termination of pregnancy in the State. To effect that change, the committee recommended that Article 40.3.3° should be removed from our Constitution. The committee then went on to make recommendations on the grounds on which termination of pregnancy should be permitted in Ireland, if...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: We also propose to make provision for access to termination of pregnancy on an emergency basis in line with the process in the 2013 Act. That would cover situations in which the risk to the life or of serious harm to the health of the pregnant woman is immediate. We cannot tie the hands of our clinicians in responding immediately to threats to the life or health of a woman. Should a...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: In these cases, the people best placed to make such a decision are the woman and her medical team. We all have heard some heartbreaking stories of women in these situations who have chosen differently. Unlike the crude and ignorant commentary I heard in the other House, in both circumstances, regardless of the choice the woman makes, those are babies who were loved and wanted. We have to...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: This recommendation was also based on important evidence the committee heard of the increasing use of abortion pills purchased illegally over the Internet and taken by pregnant women without medical supervision. We have heard the harrowing stories from doctors who have seen women in emergency departments who have taken these pills without medical supervision. While these pills can be...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: This opportunity, however, is denied to Irish women who make lonely journeys to other countries or who are accessing abortion pills online and taking them alone and unsafely. In the general scheme approved by the Government, it is proposed that it will be an offence to terminate a pregnancy otherwise than in accordance with the provisions set out in the general scheme. However, a woman who...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: Other measures include enhanced dating and anomaly scanning services in addition to that provided through the 2018 HSE service plan; additional endocrinologists, specialist nurses and midwives in diabetes and dieticians to help prevent obesity, which is a preventable cause of maternal illness in pregnancy; the roll-out of the electronic health record for mothers and babies to all maternity...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: I outlined in this House that women from every county in the country are travelling abroad to access terminations. They are not nameless, faceless women although it might suit some people to pretend they are. They are real women-----

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: -----they are related to us, they work with us and they are our neighbours. We know them and we are letting them down. We are letting the women who travel down - the women who turn up at the airport as we sit here today in Seanad Éireann. They might be sitting on the seat of a plane beside someone going on a business trip or honeymooners going away and they will make the lonely...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: I do not wish to start on a note of disagreement but the last time I was in the House it was for the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill and I was here for an awful long time as well. The Senator seems to enjoy having me here.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: I do not know whether it is me or the Senators but we often seem to have very long and considered debates, but they are always terribly fruitful and respectful and I do not think tonight was any different. I thank Senators on all sides of the House for their considered contributions. I join with all of them in noting, with all sincerity, that it has been a very respectful debate

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: I am nearly getting worried now that respectful is becoming clichéd and it should not, because it is so important and we have managed so far to have this Bill move through the Dáil and now move through the Seanad. We have had debates on Oireachtas committees and generally the tone of the debate has been encouraging. We can passionately disagree on this without calling each other...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: -----that it must be repealed. That is my very strong view. I join with others in acknowledging the leadership that is being provided by many colleagues through a very long process. When people talk about this being rushed I think that is kind of bizarre-----

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: -----because this has been a very lengthy, thorough process with the Citizens' Assembly and the Oireachtas committee. I commend my colleague, Senator Noone, for her chairmanship, all Members of this House who were on it, and all Members of the other House who were on it, the leadership I have seen in individual political parties, and the leadership I have seen from individual leaders of...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: This is not a debate about whether one is for or against abortion. Rather, it is about whether one wants to put in place a safe and legal system or leave in place an unsafe and illegal one.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: However, this debate is not about introducing or stopping the introduction of abortion in Ireland. If only it were that simple. Women in Ireland are having abortions. Let none of us make them faceless and nameless. They live in Senators' counties and towns and are possibly members of their families. Abortion is here, so how will we make it safe? People talk about certainty. There is...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: We are ensuring the woman who makes the choice, as many will, to go to full term with her pregnancy in the knowledge that her baby will die within hours or days will be supported. That is a valid choice that many women will make and we are not supporting such women well enough. That is why we are putting in proposals in respect of perinatal hospice care and ensuring that women have better...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Simon Harris: Much has been said about protection for the unborn. I hope for more discussion in that regard because we all want to protect life. I do not believe we are divided in that respect although, at times, it may suit us to pretend that we are. No one in the House is more pro-life than I. It is ridiculous to say that a person is anti-life. We are all pro-life. The issue is what sort of...