Seanad debates

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am nearly getting worried now that respectful is becoming clichéd and it should not, because it is so important and we have managed so far to have this Bill move through the Dáil and now move through the Seanad. We have had debates on Oireachtas committees and generally the tone of the debate has been encouraging. We can passionately disagree on this without calling each other names or putting on labels or having a go at each other in a very personal fashion. I was not around in 1983 but I do remain somewhat hopeful that the people I meet, the people outside of this Leinster House bubble, certainly do not want people going at each other and shouting at each other and calling each other names. This is a deeply personal and private matter for citizens to decide on and I think there is a duty on all of us to advocate in accordance with our own conscience as public representatives and let the people of Ireland decide.

People have expressed views in this debate tonight with which I fundamentally disagree but I fundamentally respect them. I consider many of them friends and I thank them for doing that as well. We do not need herd mentalities in these debates. It is important that people have their views because there are different views in Irish society on this issue and I acknowledge that. I do not think anyone who votes against the Bill is anti-democratic but I do think it is somewhat peculiar. I have described it like that before but that is just my perspective. That is why I voted for it in my role as a Member of the Dáil. People in this House have a right to cast their vote as well, but I am cautiously optimistic that the people of Ireland will have their say on this issue, and there is a general acceptance around this House, regardless of one's perspective, that that is highly likely to be the outcome.

This is a tough issue. Who likes talking about it? It is a very personal, sensitive issue to do with a very personal, sensitive topic but we have to discuss it because we have a role as legislators and because it is in our Constitution. The only way we can address the issue is by way of the people of Ireland having their say. I have heard colleagues agonise over this, but as much as we are agonising over it, it is nothing like the agony that the women in this country who experience crisis pregnancies have faced since the introduction of the eighth amendment and that is why I believe passionately-----

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