Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important debate and I commend the Minister, Deputy Harris, on his speech, on steering this Bill through the Lower House and on the impending publication of the heads of a Bill. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Zappone, to the House.

This is important legislation. Like Senator Gavan, it is important that we park our political ideology and that we put on the jersey that says "Yes" to repeal. We are asking our fellow citizens in our Republic to have a say, to make their decision and to have their voices heard. Irrespective of whether they vote "Tá" or "Níl", this debate should be a respectful one. We recognise that in this Chamber, in every home and in every community, there are divergent, different viewpoints. That does not make us good or bad people but it makes us democrats who will accept the outcome tonight or tomorrow and of the referendum. I will campaign to repeal the eighth amendment and I will do so for a number of reasons, not least because I trust our women and our politicians and their political instinct and the institution that is the Houses of the Oireachtas. To say we do not trust each other is doing a gross disservice to each other.

We did not arrive at this Bill because we stuck our finger in the air and took a political decision. We did so because of a process, beginning with the Supreme Court decision in the X case. If I may, like Senator Colm Burke, I will return to what the late Mr. Peter Sutherland said in his advice in 1983:

In summary: the wording is ambiguous and unsatisfactory. It will lead inevitably to confusion and uncertainty, not merely amongst the medical profession, to whom it has of course particular relevance, but also amongst lawyers and more specifically the judges who will have to interpret it.

The eighth amendment did not give certainty and did not give women security - it did quite the opposite - but that is what we must try to do. I had the pleasure of chairing the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 hearing. I was probably the only Member of the Oireachtas who sat through the whole six days and all Stages of the Bill, never missing one. What I discovered was that life is not black and white. We live in the grey. Our medical professionals are forced every day to make a decision, with a chilling effect over them, called Article 40.3.3°.Let there be no obfuscation or confusion. We should put this proposition to the people. We are democrats who go before the people in a vote every five years or so, and ask them to cast their ballot. Let the people decide. Let them have their choice. The floodgates did not open following the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. The world did not end when we passed marriage equality. The world did not change when we introduced the protection of life during pregnancy legislation. The world did not change when we passed the children's rights referendum. Life continued when we recognised that marriages break up and divorce is part of our lives.

There are many who have sincerely held views which are different from mine. I respect them and cherish their opinions all the more. Let us have a debate on the facts in this referendum. Let us not go down the road of the old referendum debates where red herrings were introduced. Like Senator O'Sullivan, I want to call on all men to participate, be engaged and read the report of the health committee, which was ably chaired by my colleague and friend, Senator Catherine Noone. They should read the ancillary recommendations and what doctors and medical professionals said to us. There was no groupthink or contrived evidence. Eminent and qualified people gave professional views.

We should look to the ancillary recommendations the Minister, Deputy Harris, mentioned at the end of his speech, not because there is a referendum coming forward but because the women and children of our country deserve and require that. That is why we have a national maternity strategy and we should put those recommendation at the forefront of everything we do.

In 1967 a young boy was born in the Erinville Hospital in Cork to parents who were the nurses of their first child. He weighed 2 lb when he was born prematurely and spent many months in hospital. That child is me, who cherishes life and understands the importance of life, who clung to life and recommends to all of us to live life to the full. My mother was a nurse and midwife. I am her son and today I live having survived that pregnancy and having been born weighing 2 lb.

The chilling effects we have created for the women of our lives have been well documented. They include the laundries to which women were sent and hidden. Like Senator Wilson, I spent time as a seminarian and met many people. I was struck by the women who worked in many laundries. They were sent from their homes and shamed in the eyes of society because they were pregnant and had children. God forbid they would do so out of marriage. That was the norm at the time. How wrong we were. How correct Senator Ruane is about the way we treated women.

Senator Ardagh is correct when she speaks about Ann Lovett, who died in Granard. She was treated shamefully. Look at the way we treated single women or women whose marriages broke up. Of course, we did not just treat women in society badly. We are learning from the bravery of so many women that we can do things better and treat people with compassion.

This referendum is about women. We have abortion in our country. Women are travelling because they can afford to do so. Women are taking the abortion pill. Are we going to continue to have an Irish solution to an Irish problem? For once, are we going to have the political maturity as a republic to say we can change and can cherish both lives equally?

I am for the life of the unborn and I am also for the life of the mother. I am pro life; all of us in the Chamber are. I hate those labels. I do not know of any person who wants to end a life. I want a debate on the facts with compassion. To the people who leave messages on my phone threatening me with all kinds of calumny and evil, I say I am a democrat and will abide by the decision of the people. I respect life. I hope the Irish people will make a decision to repeal the eighth amendment and give the women of country the certainty and respect they deserve.