Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

What it says is that it is lawful to end a human life where the people who have certified that the abortion or procedure is called for have "had regard" - whatever that means - to the need to preserve unborn human life. Therefore, it is the people who certify the abortion who must have regard to the need to preserve human life, but the only protection for the doctor is if he or she carries out a procedure that ends human life. Therefore, what is being said in this section does not add up and is not an adequate argument. I appeal to my colleagues to understand this reasonable point. The provision does not add up because it does not require that the person who carries out the abortion has regard to the need to preserve unborn human life. Rather, it requires that the people who certify the need for an abortion form an opinion that the abortion is necessary and that they have regard to the need to protect human life. The person carrying out the procedure is the person being protected in this legislation, but only in cases where he or she ends the life. That is the problem and that is the lacuna.

I apologise. What I have argued is certainly not an attempt at any kind of legal snobbery. I was not sufficiently long practising at the bar to even have the right to claim experience. However, I would like to have the Attorney General here to hear what she has to say, because the argument made by the Minister does not stand up.