Paul Bradford (Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in the tributes to Mr. Bernard Hand and wish him well for the future. I am sure like many of his previous colleagues, he will continue to visit us here from time to time. He will probably learn, as all of us have learnt, that nothing much changes. I concur with what has been said about Senator Norris as he collects another award of distinction tomorrow.

I support Senator Bacik's call for a debate in the House on abortion services because a democratic debate is always useful and helpful. The Senator put on record her pleasure at the pronouncement of the Labour Party's proposal on abortion. While I disagree in every respect with the Senator on the matter, she is absolutely entitled to her opinions and I am sure she will fully respect mine. I am sure she will fully respect my view that what she and the Labour Party are proposing is absolutely akin to the British and American regimes on abortion, about which I and many other people in the country are deeply disturbed. Let us have that debate.

It appears the Taoiseach has reflected and revised his views on how a Government should operate and he might well allow a free vote of his parliamentary party colleagues on the matter. I am not sure if it is a question of Sunningdale for slow learners or a question of trying to rewrite history. I regret the Taoiseach did not allow such a facility when he and his Government presided over the abortion introduction in this country in 2013. If he had been as willing then to allow the free vote he now claims he might allow, things would be different. It is important that in a House of democracy, we debate all subjects - the difficult ones as well as the easier topics. I look forward to that debate in the new year.

What the Labour Party proposed yesterday is exactly what was proposed in Britain in 1967 and in the United States in the 1970s.