Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am extremely grateful for the objectivity of the Cathaoirleach and I thank him for that protection. What we raised here were facts. It is a fact that the three doctors to whom I referred stated that screening can be carried out at nine weeks. The technology exists. It is also a fact that the results can be back within four days or a week. That is well within the window of 12 weeks. I know of one particular hospital in Dublin where a screening was provided for a pregnant woman, a relative of mine. The screening showed that the unborn child had a very high probability of being born with Down's syndrome and that she should consider an abortion. Thankfully she did not take that route, and today Simon is three years old. He is a bundle of fun. The reason we are raising this particular amendment is to allow children like Simon the opportunity to live and breathe among the rest of us. It is wrong to shout us down because we have that conviction. It may not rest easy with some Senators' position and that is fine. I acknowledge that Senator Noone did an awful lot of good work, as did all the members of the committee. It was not an easy issue to deal with. She is absolutely right; the committee excluded disability. That is fine. She is right. I agree with her. The Bill does not make reference to disability.By being indefinite on this the Bill creates the potential for children to be aborted on disability grounds because the legislation is not otherwise prescriptive. That is why we are tabling this amendment. I feel passionately about it. Any one of us at any point in our time before we were born could find ourselves in the same position.