Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No. The eighth amendment was inserted into the Constitution in 1983. That was a different time, a different world and a different Ireland. Just ten years prior to that, in 1973, the then coalition Government moved a proposal called the constitutional right to privacy Bill, or something like that, which was to give a tiny modicum of - the least - access to contraception to married couples. It was the first ever move to take the law and the bishops out of our bedrooms. It was defeated because it was opposed by the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, and a senior Cabinet Member, Dick Burke. How courageous then, on reflection, was the great Jack Lynch, if I can call him that, because I believe he was great? Jack Lynch moved the amendment to take away the special privileges and position of the Catholic Church in the Constitution and it was carried well. On reflection, was that not great? I think it was Charlie Haughey who finally got some form of contraception legalised. I think it was the famous Irish solution to an Irish problem.