Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again call for a debate on the report of the expert group on the judgment in A, B and C v. Ireland, which has now been published. I welcome its publication yesterday and welcome that chapter 7 of the report clearly indicates that the best option for implementing the European Court of Justice judgment in the case of A, B and C v. Ireland is legislation along with regulation. I welcome that yesterday's Cabinet meeting agreed a clear timeline, with debates in both Houses of the Oireachtas over the next three weeks, a Cabinet decision to be taken before the end of this Dáil term and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children holding hearings early in January. I welcome that the Cabinet has expressed the need to move swiftly on this.

We need to be conscious of how high feelings have been running since the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. Women are camping outside Leinster House with the slogan of "never again" and making the point that it has been 20 years since the Supreme Court decision in the X case. I believe large numbers of people will appear outside Leinster House tonight to protest against the Government voting down Deputy Clare Daly's Bill. It is very important the Government has indicated it will move swiftly on this.

I very much welcome the comments of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, in the Dáil last night and again this morning that the Government will act on this and that the Government's action will not go anything like as far as many of us would want. The Minister also made it clear that whatever option is taken - I very much hope it will be legislation, which the Labour Party has urged - it cannot leave out suicide risk. The risk to life of a pregnant woman needs to cover both physical risk and risk of suicide, and that will also need to be legislated for. To suggest that we could legislate for a bit of the judgment in the X case is like saying that a woman could be a little bit pregnant. It is simply not possible. The judgment in the X case has been confirmed by the people in two separate referenda in 1992 and 2002. It is very clear that it is incumbent on the Government to move swiftly and to legislate. I look forward to our debate on the matter in coming weeks.