Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know about the indoctrination that we all felt. Those women quietly said that they would be voting "Yes" but asked us not to tell the neighbours. That is what happened in this revolution. The result on Saturday was for the women of Ireland and we are not going back.

I also want to raise two matters which I ask the Leader to address. The first concerns the 135,000 people, mostly young women, who were on the supplementary register. Electoral reform is required because their names will now be deleted. That means that 135,000 people will be taken off the register of electors, which seems illogical. It also means that we are constantly trying to catch up with ourselves in terms of keeping the register up to date. If those people were accepted onto the supplementary register, surely they should stay on it.

The second issue I wish to raise concerns the Minister for Health. While we await the Bill to give effect to the referendum result, will the Minister urge the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, to authorise medicines for termination as soon as possible? Research is readily available on these pills which are being taken by women here anyway. We need them to be licensed by the HPRA without delay.