David Norris (Independent)

I appreciate that and would not like to overstep the mark. This is the fifth anniversary of a remarkable and immensely moving letter, which we read with great interest, from a woman who had been told that she was carrying a 16 week old foetus with a severe chromosomal abnormality incompatible with life. The trauma of that news was exacerbated by the fact that she was forced to carry it to term by the State. She had two other small children and was expected to carry this trauma and all the difficulties this entailed for the other siblings. She did not advocate what she called "social abortion" but stated:

I am angry that men I do not know and who don't know me ... have decided that my body is their demesne; that they have the right to decide how my family will cope with this very real tragedy; that, regardless of the emotional and physical distress for us, I must do what they want; that their bigoted will rules my body.

She challenged this Oireachtas that it has a responsibility to bite the bullet and legislate in this limited area in light of a series of court judgments. The Seanad, as part of the Oireachtas, is constantly castigated for not living up to its responsibilities. The same occurred with the domestic partnership Bill recently. There was a charade whereby it was to be amended in six months, even though we are well aware the Government will be gone by then. As far as I am concerned, it cannot be gone soon enough. Let the general election roll on and I hope, for the sake of the country, that we at last get a Government that will not suffer from the indecision and dithering on these important issues displayed by the present Government.