Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was. It was looked at from the point of view of criminal justice. We now find ourselves in a very different place. I genuinely love this country, as I think we all do, and we are all very proud of it but I am ashamed of how it has treated women, particularly pregnant women. Others have referenced the Magdalen laundries, mother and baby homes and the Kerry babies case, which are all different but all connected because they all relate to how we treated pregnant women.It is a terribly tragic and upsetting irony that, in 1984, 15 year old Ann Lovett died beneath a statue of Our Lady at a religious grotto having given birth. Her body was found by her schoolmates. We have a problem here with how we have treated women and we must look at how we address it. We are all looking at it and trying to do our best. I appreciate very much that there will be different perspectives. We should not get into a space of name-calling or stereotyping each other because that has led to paralysis. It has led, quite frankly, to an inability on the part of the nation to think about this issue with clarity and to follow the evidence. We have never had that opportunity. Every time we try to discuss it, the debate is reduced to two people on radio, often men, shouting and roaring at each other and calling each other names. We have to try to do better.

Members of Seanad and Dáil Éireann who served on the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution have done a real service to all of us in the Oireachtas and to the Irish people. I join many others in commending Senator Noone on her leadership of the committee. It was a very complex task and there were many commentators and politicians who were not sure the committee would ever get to the final report it produced. However, it did get there. Senator Noone steered the committee in a dignified, balanced, fair and impartial way. I should not and do not intend to misrepresent in any way the findings of the committee, which were not unanimous. There were people on the committee who dissented as was their right. We should respect that right. However, there was a majority view and that is the basis on which we should, as an Oireachtas, proceed.

I heard Senator Ó Donnghaile make the point very honestly about people changing their views. I changed my view. To those on Twitter who are going to tweet about how I changed my view as though I should be somewhat embarrassed, I note that it will not work. I have spoken about this very openly. I changed my view, not on a whim, but by listening to women, doctors and the reality of abortion in this country. It is not just a reality in the way it used to be. It used to be the reality that we would export challenging situations. In 2016, 3,265 women left our shores and went to Britain for abortions. Many of them were married and had other children. There was a wide spectrum of ages, from teenagers to women in their 40s. I set out in the Dáil only a few hours ago that every single county in Ireland saw women leave to go to the UK for an abortion in 2016 and listed the statistics. This is not an urban-rural issue; it affects every part of the country. It is not only that. As well as what has been going on for decades and generations whereby up to 170,000 women and probably more travelled have abroad for abortions since 1980s, we now have the reality of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. As such, abortion is legal in this country in limited circumstances.

People are entitled to their own opinions but they are not entitled to their own facts. I remember sitting in the Seanad during the committee hearings chaired very ably by Senator Buttimer and being told, in an awful phrase, that if we passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, as it then was, the floodgates would open. Anyone who reads the transcripts will see that some Senators and Deputies asserted that if the legislation was passed, women would fake threats to their lives to access terminations. That was said or the inference was certainly made. We publish annual reports which show that simply has not happened. The numbers stayed static. Abortion is legal in those circumstances. As such, it is people going broad, people under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act and, in what is now a third reality, the abortion pill is available. This is something the committee considered in great detail and I have read the evidence and testimony given to it in that regard. Yet again, women are being left lonely and isolated but this time without having to leave the country. This time, it is where they log onto a computer, order a pill, wait for it to be delivered in the post and take it in the privacy of their bedroom or wherever else. It is hard to put accurate figures on this because it is an illegal pill in this country, but the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecologypublished research last October which showed a 62% increase in the number of Irish women enquiring about the pill from one online provider alone between 2010 and 2015. The research showed well over 1,000 women in Ireland accessing the pill in one year.

This debate cannot be reduced to one which is just about abortion and whether one views it as right or wrong, because that is a matter for people's consciences. This debate is about the reality of abortion for Irish women and how we ensure we support women who make that deeply difficult decision. I am really pleased to have heard so many people acknowledge tonight that it is a deeply difficult decision. When I hear terms like "abortion on demand", it makes me cringe. Women are not going around demanding abortions. They are agonising over deeply personal, private and difficult decisions. Pregnancy is a very happy occasion, thankfully, for many women and their partners in this country, but for some women it is a terrifying experience. For some women, it is a tragic experience. We have all heard from many of those women in recent years. There is a reality here which we will have to work together as an Oireachtas to address. My view is that we cannot address it as long as the eighth amendment remains in the Constitution. That is why we must allow the people of Ireland to have their say and recognise those, not just of my age but under the age of about 50, who have never had a say on the substantive issue of the eighth amendment.

Should the Government make a decision and should the Oireachtas facilitate the passage of the constitutional amendment legislation, we will be in a position this year to put a question to the people. It is my preference that we put that question in the month of May for a whole lot of practical reasons. Obviously, that is a matter for the Government to decide. I note that Senator Noone asked what form the question will take. I have been very clear so there should be no ambiguity; in my view the eighth amendment should go. That is a decision for the Irish people and only they can make it. The question should facilitate the Irish people to have the opportunity to remove the eighth amendment. As a Government, however, we must obtain legal advice from the Attorney General as to how best to make that a legal reality. The committee obtained its legal advice and had one view. The Citizens' Assembly obtained legal advice and had a different view. The Government will also obtain legal advice. As Minister for Health, my aim will be to bring a proposal to the Government, the Oireachtas and then the people which gives them an opportunity to remove the eighth amendment. How we do that legally is a matter for greater minds than mine and it is something the Government will be working through.

I turn to the ancillary recommendations. Everyone in the House, regardless of his or her view on the eighth amendment or abortion and terminations, wants to see us do better by women in crisis pregnancy situations. Everyone wants to see us do better by women in terms of our maternity services also. I was struck when I read the committee's report that it focused a great deal on that. I am glad the Chairman made the point. I did not hear Senator Kelleher's contribution, but I understand she referred to the importance of it as well, as did many others. This is not a report that says the only thing the State should do for women in crisis pregnancies is legalise terminations; far from it. Of course, that is what is going to get the media and political attention because, let us be honest, it is an important issue and a significant policy proposal. However, the report also talks about the need to reduce the incidence of crisis pregnancy and support every woman from every part of the country to have access to the best possible maternity services.

I want the House and the Irish people to know that my Department is working actively on how to deliver on those ancillary recommendations. I contend that we are already delivering on some. We have the first ever - it is incredible that this is the case - national maternity strategy which will bring us to a much better place. We have established the women-and-infants health programme in the HSE and a dedicated programme office to drive the delivery of maternity services. We have put in place the first ever HIQA standards on maternity care and we have new HSE bereavement standards for anyone who has had pregnancy loss, regardless of how that loss has come about. I take very seriously the report's other recommendations on contraception, sex education and access to anomaly scans. We have significant plans to enhance access to anomaly scans in the HSE service plan this year. We have set up a working group in the Department, which is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, and we are working our way through the recommendations. That must be part of the Government's comprehensive response to the report.After multiple referendums, multiple court cases, multiple Private Members' Bills in this House and the other House, multiple debates, column inches, committee hearings and Citizens' Assembly hearings, we will be in a position finally to give the Irish people their chance to have a say on the issue. As others have said, regardless of their views, as democrats it is very important that we let the people of Ireland have their say on the issue and that we respect their decision. We must lead on facilitating a respectful, informed debate and I think tonight is a good start to that.