Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put a simple question on the Title of the Bill, which is a sleight of hand being perpetrated on the Irish people. The Title was dreamed up in the immediate aftermath of the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Savita Halappanavar, and it was put out in order to gain traction among the broad mass of the Irish people, who would automatically and sympathetically go along with a Bill with the phrase "protection of life during pregnancy" in its title. Who is against the protection of life? Nobody is against that.

I have no difficulty with 90% of this Bill and I welcome it and applaud the Government for providing the legal clarity that those in the medical profession have sought for a considerable period. If that medical clarity had been inculcated in the procedures surrounding the treatment given to the late Ms Halappanavar, who knows what would have been the outcome, irrespective of the medical incompetence that surrounded the case, which had nothing to do with the ending of life. I am asking the question about having the phrase "protection of life" in the Title, as section 9(1) indicates that it shall be lawful to carry out a medical procedure as a result of which an unborn human life is ended.