Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I noted what Senator Boyhan said earlier about trade with China. As somebody who starts a good many days of the week farming, I am always glad to hear of good news in the area of trade but we need to talk about China. That will be for another day, though.

Today, I want to talk about the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act and its imposition of wide-ranging abortion measures that will permit the ending of life of an unborn child up to viability and, perhaps, beyond. This is an Act of extreme moral and legislative violence and it is a tragedy for this island. These provisions provide for the decriminalisation of abortion, as Senator Bacik said, and a moratorium on abortion-related criminal prosecutions from 22 October onwards. Most people have always rightly believed that women who have abortions should not be targeted by the criminal law because of the mitigating situation of fear and pressure that is often involved. We have arrived at a position where, in the absence of any regulations for a period of some months at least, no abortion provider, pimp or campaigner involved in promoting abortion, however late-term and brutal, however destructive in its attempt and execution, can be the subject of a criminal prosecution.