David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from what Senator Jimmy Harte said - reasonably - I would like to say a few words on the interview that I am sure we all saw last night. I had not intended to speak on this subject but was so greatly moved by the dignity, composure and solemn grief of Mr. Halappanavar that I feel bound to say something. Two points, in particular, made by Mr. Halappanavar really struck home. He reiterated that when his wife was desperately, mortally ill and when both begged that the procedure that might have saved her life be carried out, they were told this was a Catholic country. Once again, it is deeply offensive that the preservation of some kind of abstract system should be put ahead of the life of a living human being, wife, daughter and sister. It is shocking. Mr. Halappanavar spoke of the bigger life. That is a very simple concept, but it is telling.

Some years ago citizens were misled into voting as they did in a referendum that I considered was wrong at the time. It is wrong to second-guess the people, but they were misled. I remember saying in this House that I found it profoundly shocking that the same right to life would be given to the fertilised ovum as to a fully developed human being who might be a wife, mother, sister or daughter. What are the people in question - principally men, including men in churches and celibate men in the case of one church - thinking of when they put the same value on a tiny organism with potential, for which I would have respect, as on people of realised potential? As somebody who is strongly pro-life - I want this to echo in the Chamber - I recognise that there are circumstances such as those we have just witnessed in which, sadly, the question of abortion must be raised and faced. We have failed significantly to face it. It is wrong that the language should be taken over. Who are the "unborn"? It is like the "undead" or being non-Catholic in this country. I feel very strongly about this issue. From where did this come? It came from a group that was strongly motivated. I am sure the group's members' motivations were, in their own minds, very good, but they are featuring again. What is the Iona Institute? What is its background? How is it funded? From where do its members come? Are they elected?