Seanad debates

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

2:30 pm

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues for their kind remarks and I strongly welcome the resounding two-thirds majority for a "Yes" vote on Friday. The people have spoken very clearly. As somebody who has campaigned on this issue for nearly three decades since I was taken to court and threatened with prison by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, SPUC, back in 1989 when I was president of Trinity College's student union, I am pleased to see the clear and decisive mandate for change in the law from across the country and from almost every constituency, as others have said. Like colleagues, I urge the Government to move swiftly in bringing forward the legislation, on which the Labour Party and other parties will certainly co-operate.

The people have spoken decisively. I commend the wonderful Together for Yes national civil society campaign with which I was very proud to be involved. I also commend my party, the Labour Party, which opposed the amendment in 1983 and whose members have campaigned for many years to repeal the eighth amendment - people like Deputy Brendan Howlin, Mary Robinson, Catherine McGuinness and others. Senator Gavan spoke about the trade union movement but I also wish to mention the student union movement nationally, particularly the student union in Trinity College, which led a formidable campaign around Dublin. Nationally, student unions and the Union of Students in Ireland also mobilised enormous numbers of young people which was very welcome. I am delighted that the constituency in which I live and which I canvassed most extensively had the highest "Yes" vote in the country, at 78.5%, which is a resounding result.

I join with colleagues in saying that not only should the Government move forward swiftly on the legislation to replace the eighth amendment - the regulation of termination of pregnancy legislation - but some interim and more immediate measures also need to be taken. I have already spoken with the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach and this does not only include the repeal of the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act. The Irish Family Planning Association, an organisation with a proud tradition on this matter, has called for repeal of the Act and it is quite right. It is time to remove the Act immediately. There is no longer any constitutional imperative for the restriction on referral to clinics or hospitals in Great Britain.It is significantly impeding doctors' clinical practice and counsellors and, therefore, we need to repeal the 1995 Act.

In addition, the Government should move swiftly in the next week to delete the criminal sanction from the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. It is invidious that doctors and women would face criminal penalty if, for example, a woman imports abortion pills tomorrow or the next day, or if a doctor performs a termination of pregnancy in a case of fatal foetal abnormality. I was questioned on this earlier by a journalist who suggested that if we removed the criminal sanction, a floodgate would open. I think we have seen the floodgate argument pretty decisively defeated in the referendum campaign and I do not think there is any prospect at all of floodgates opening. However, we know that, already, three or four women are importing pills every day and we need to ensure they no longer do so with the threat of criminal sanction hanging over them, now the people have spoken so resoundingly.

I call on the Leader to make representations to the Government on moving forward, not only with the more detailed framework legislation on termination of pregnancy but more swiftly on those immediate measures we could take to remove measures that are no longer required to remain in our statute law because the constitutional imperative has been removed. It would be a very important symbolic gesture, apart from anything else, to recognise this overwhelming result in Friday's exercise in democracy by the people. I agree the next step is separation of church and State in other ways, and we have certainly seen that as an imperative as well. My colleague, Senator Ó Ríordáin, has called for the setting up a citizens' assembly to examine, in particular, the issue of divestment of schools, given that over 90% of primary schools remain under Catholic Church control. That is the next campaign and a related one.

For today, I thank colleagues for their kind words. I very much welcome this decisive result and ask the Leader to make representations on the next steps.

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