Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is appropriate that we would acknowledge the very careful consideration he has given in his preparatory work for what is probably the biggest social question we will face for a generation. I said last night and I reiterate today that I believe the referendum should happen because the ultimate democracy is the Irish people through a referendum. I fundamentally believe that the Constitution is the wrong place to deal with a health issue such as abortion. We are the only country in the world that has an amendment like this enshrined in its Constitution. No conservative country has it, no liberal country has it, no mature country has it, no modern country has it and no compassionate country has it. No country that has a regard for women would have such a thing in its constitution. I do not think it is right and fair and I do not think it should be allowed. I appeal to the Irish people to go out on 25 May or whenever it is and vote to take this out of the Constitution.

People talk about 12 weeks. To be fair to the committee, which was charged with coming up with recommendations on this, it looked very carefully at the various options. The problem with 12 weeks is quite simple. People can now import medication to have an abortion. Until the Internet became fashionable, we exported the problem. Not alone are we exporting it, we are also importing it. I appeal to people to let this referendum go ahead, pass this Bill today in the Seanad and then go out and campaign. As I said yesterday, I respect people on both sides who have deeply held views and who are showing leadership on this. The side I am supporting wants to remove the eighth amendment from the Constitution in the first instance because that is a question. It is not about 12 weeks, nine weeks or any number of weeks. It is a very simple proposition. Do we believe having an amendment in the Constitution about abortion is right or wrong? That is the simple question citizens and the people watching this today must ask themselves. I have no doubt that the legislation will be debated with the same compassion, empathy and consideration in both Houses post-referendum if the people decide to remove the eighth amendment. If the people decide not to remove it, the situation in this country will continue as is. The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act will be the fall-back position. There will be no legislation so if somebody is raped and wants to have an abortion, she will either have to import the medication through the Internet or travel to England for an abortion. If people find that they are carrying a child with fatal foetal abnormalities, the same will apply. The situation will not change. This question will not be visited again for 15 to 20 years at minimum so the Irish people must ask themselves very serious question. It is not about 12 weeks, nine weeks or anything else. The question is simple. It is whether we believe dealing with this serious health issue should be in the Constitution. Is it appropriate or not? It is very important that during the course of the debate, we keep the lines clear in terms of what the message is.

Assuming the Bill is passed and we have a referendum, a referendum commission needs to be set up. However, the Government will probably have to give it a further brief in terms of dealing with social media. Senator Ned O'Sullivan spoke earlier about some of the stuff about him that went up on social media. This needs to be regulated. I do not know how we can do it or if there is any way of doing it but I believe we must try to manage social media. We will not have the type of long-term safeguards in place that we would like to have because that is a much bigger discussion but for the specific time bubble of the referendum between now and 25 May, there must be some sort of management and control of social media. I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on Committee Stage.