Elisha McCallion (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to speak to amendment No. 24. Many Senators have spoken about various experiences - some of the personal experiences and others the experiences of people they know. I was struck by what I was told by a colleague an hour or so ago regarding the experience of one of his neighbours. I am sure that like me every Senator has been inundated with thousands of messages from people pleading with them to ask for their voices to be heard. I have worked in a number of institutions. I am well used to lobbying and lobby responses. I have never seen such a volume of lobbying in such a short time from so many people. It illustrates how passionately people feel about this issue. I have read many of the responses and I have spoken to many of the ladies here today, one of whom told me she had to fight with her 81 year old mother not to come down here today