David Norris (Independent)

It is unsatisfactory and unprofessional and does not suit the vast majority of Members. They would say the same on the Leader's side of the House in private.

I wish to raise the report of the Human Rights Commission and its observations about abortion. I know this is a very sensitive and delicate issue and no one wishes to re-run the abortion referenda. However, we did have a referendum which inserted wording into the Constitution which, to the detriment of the medical profession, has never been articulated in law as it should. The people have spoken so why do legislators not face up to the situation?

I refer to a study by a women named Catherine Conlon which deals with rogue counselling agencies that engage in intimidating women who have crisis pregnancies. They are not regulated because they do not offer the option of abortion information, so the Garda can do nothing about it. For example, there is a case of a woman who went in and thought she was going to receive dispassionate advice but was interviewed in a windowless basement room by a man who showed her a video of an abortion and photographs of an aborted foetus and then strung her along until it was too late for her to have the procedure.