Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Any debate on the issue of abortion, irrespective of the context, will be a debate that is fraught in the Irish context. Since I have become involved in political life, whether through my quasi political involvement during my student union days in UCD or party political involvement, abortion has dominated the scene. I find this astonishing, because in much of that time I worked with disadvantaged people in areas like Crumlin, Darndale and Ballymun. Many of the people I dealt with were lone parents who were facing extreme poverty, yet their needs did not garner the same amount of attention as the 1983 constitutional amendment on abortion or as any of the subsequent constitutional amendments.

I am somewhat cynical and remain cynical about the ongoing debate in Irish society on the issue of abortion. This country has approximately 50,000 live births per annum, but some 14,000 women will have a miscarriage in the same year. A miscarriage is a very emotional and traumatic experience, but for some of the women who have a miscarriage, it will not just be emotional and traumatic but may, in the most extreme circumstances, threaten their lives.

I spoke in this Chamber on the death of Savita Halappanavar which was a very tragic case. However, the circumstances of that case remain to be proven within the proper legal context and within the context of the proper inquiry. I will not, therefore, engage in discussion of that case. We have the expert group report before us today and it predates anything else that has happened recently in this jurisdiction. The report must be debated on its merits in that context. I believe the report provides a very thoughtful explanation of what has occurred within our society and of the law in regard to this issue. It is a thoughtful and well presented report of the options available to us as legislators for the future. The expert group has made its position very clear as to what it considers the future should be, yet it is conscious and straightforward in saying it is not its function or role to dictate to the legislature.

If I was somebody who ever had a mental health difficulty or who had ever considered suicide or who lived in a family where a member of that family had ever considered suicide, I would be deeply upset about some of the commentary in this country over the past couple of weeks. Presenting the threat of someone taking her own life, as I heard one speaker present it, as though it was something that could be dealt with through a bit of tender loving care and a bit of counselling, completely undermines the serious mental health issues faced by people who consider taking their own lives. The expert group does not leave us in any doubt. The threat of somebody taking her life through suicide is a real threat. As legislators, we must not walk away from that reality. I do not believe the Labour Party will walk away and I hope our partners in government do not either.

I do not believe the issue of abortion will ever go away, nor do I believe it should. This is a debate that should be ongoing and which should be aired more in the future. If nothing else, the expert group report has brought into the open some of the issues we have been hiding for the past number of years. Dare I say it, but this is a class issue. People with money can vote with their feet, and they do. They do so in serious numbers. People without money cannot. They depend on us to put in place a legal system that protects them. Not only are we duty bound to do that, we are also duty bound to put the resources into protecting women in this country.