Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the bone fides of the Government in wanting to introduce safe abortion in Ireland. Having waited for 35 years we have come a very long way in a very short space of time. The Government wants to bring about positive change for women's health without delay, as Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell mentioned. This legislation falls within that context, but we have to get it right. The Government wants to pass this legislation quickly, but it is essential that we do not rush. Taking time to reflect on it would help.

Like me and the 1.4 million people who voted for change on 25 May, we are impatient for the will of the people to be made real. I have waited 35 years to see this change for my daughter and my nieces. I was 21 in 1983. My daughter is 28 now. We have waited for all of those years to get this legislation right so that women can get access to the care they need. We need to get it right for women who need abortion care now and in the long run. In the Seanad we have the chance to reflect again on this, not to delay it, and to ensure that we are listening to women as well as taking into account the important perspectives of doctors and lawyers. I welcome the fact that a review is proposed after three years, but we should also be open to having a rolling evaluation, and perhaps annual reporting, so that we can iron things out as they arise. This is new territory for us. We have exported the problem of women needing abortion care, so this is new ground for us. Things will arise and we need to be able to sort them out in a timely fashion.

Tara Flynn is a brave activist and campaigner, as the Minister knows. Her testimony and honesty, at some personal cost to herself, was powerfully revealed in the course of the referendum campaign and in her one woman show, Not a Funny Word. She won many over during the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment and with the Together for Yes movement. She wrote to Senators, saying, “I am one of the many thousands of women who had to leave Ireland at a time of great distress, to access abortion care in the Netherlands.”