Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and I thank the Minister for bringing forward the legislation. The referendum was quite clear, as was the result - 66.4% in favour to 33.6% against. It is not like Brexit where by there was a marginal win for people who wanted to exit the EU. This is a clear mandate for the Minister, the Government and the Oireachtas to bring forward legislation. The Minister introduced the legislation before us, which was passed by the Dáil. He has clearly set out how this matter will be governed in this country and what will be the regulations in law. Sections 9 to 12, inclusive, set out the main provisions of the Bill regarding the areas that are to be covered. It is important that the Minister has dealt with all of the concerns that have been raised in recent years by means of the ground rules set out in these sections.

The Minister and the Government built up a level of trust with the electorate because if the electorate did not have trust in the Government in the context of bringing forward the legislation - and the draft proposals were debated during the referendum - there would have been no overall majority. That trust was built up. The Minister has now brought forward legislation that is exactly what was discussed before and during the referendum debate, which is extremely important.

People state that we are introducing abortion in this country. The reality is that termination of pregnancy has been available since the State was founded. In other words, we were passing the buck to another country. If we look at the figures for 2016, we can see that over 3,265 women gave Irish addresses when they went to the UK for terminations. In 2017, the figure was 3,001. If we look at the online figures, one company has reported that it forwarded abortion pills to 1,217 people in Ireland. That is one company. A second one indicated that it had supplied these pills to 878 women. One of the problems about online ordering is that it does not involve medical supervision because the system here does not provide for that in real terms. It is important that we will have proper legislation and proper regulation of all of this so that people can have access to the best possible healthcare. I refer, of course, to those women who find that they cannot continue with a pregnancy. The qualifying criteria under which terminations can take place are clearly set out in sections 9 to 12, inclusive. The Minister has worked very hard with the various medical organisations, the HSE and the hospitals to ensure that there will be immediate access to these services once the legislation has been enacted.

The Oireachtas now has a duty of care to the electorate because, in the aftermath of the referendum being passed, we are obliged to ensure that this services will provided to those who require it. If this service is not in place on 1 January, people may have a right to take legal action. That is the last thing we want. Previously, people were obliged to take court proceedings in order to access proper healthcare. It is important that this legislation is passed. There were over 180 Committee Stage amendments in the Dáil and the Minister dealt with each one very carefully. He has brought forward the best possible result in the legislation before the House. On that basis, it is important that we support the Bill.

I thank all of the members of the committee, such as Senator Noone and all other Senators involved, which dealt with the proposals put forward. The committee devoted a significant amount of time to carefully setting out how we might move forward with the legislation required in this area, engaging in a detailed examination and taking very detailed submissions from different groups. I thank the members of the committee for their contributions. It is important that we get this legislation through before the end of term in order that we can put in place the required mechanisms and ensure that the healthcare services required for these women will be available.