Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome to the Visitors' Gallery my colleagues, my comrades, from SIPTU's Limerick district council: honorary president Frank McDonnell, John Higgins, Marian O'Callaghan, Mary McElligott, Antoinette Sheen and Breffni Monahan. I am delighted they are here today to see us reflect on the referendum result. It was a very conclusive result in Limerick, with 67% in favour of repeal. There is no doubt that the people have spoken. There is no doubt that they spoke in favour of legislation, as reflected in the Government's general heads of Bill. It was a very emotional day.

I am proud to say our party opposed the original referendum in 1983. That was my first involvement in politics. To be frank, it was not a particularly pleasant time. I note the way our society has changed and, in particular, the way a new, young generation of people, particularly women, has become engaged in the debate, the way in which the conversations developed over recent months and the way our own people got behind the repeal campaign.Among the questions people asked afterwards was whether I celebrated and whether it was appropriate to celebrate. I did celebrate, along with a number of others, in Limerick on Saturday afternoon. To be clear, I was not celebrating abortion but the fact that this awful amendment - this symbol of oppression - is finally to be removed from our Constitution. It is important to reflect on the consistency of the vote across the State. A total of 68% of people in almost every constituency, be it urban or rural, were in favour of repeal so this idea that there would be a huge urban-rural divide turned out not to be the case.

Many people deserve credit. Obviously, I am very proud of our party leader, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald. I could name the members of the Citizens' Assembly, Ms Catherine McGuinness and everybody involved in Together for Yes. It is entirely appropriate to pay tribute to Senator Bacik in particular given her long service with regard to this issue. I pay tribute to the trade unions which paid a key part in the campaign, including my own union, SIPTU, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. I also recognise politicians on the other side of the debate, particularly the people in this Chamber who argued with sincerity for a "No" vote and argued with respect and dignity throughout.

In terms of what is to be done now, it is important that we all unite around the result the people have given us. We need to act on the instructions of the people and do so as swiftly as possible because for every week and month we fail to enact the legislative framework will mean putting women in the way of danger. I must say that I accept the Government's bona fides in this regard and I am encouraged to hear that we will see legislation before the summer break. There is a case to be made, as our leader did in the Dáil earlier this afternoon, for a swift repeal of the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act to ensure that women who have to travel in the meantime are not restricted and will at least be able to get a proper referral and have access to their case files.

I cannot forget to mention the North because so many activists came down from the North to campaign for repeal. We now have a situation where people in the North have no rights in respect of this issue. We need to see harmonisation across the island. I assure the House that Sinn Féin will campaign for that.

There is the bigger issue of church-State separation. I call for a debate on that issue but that is for another day.