Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is my great pleasure to support this motion along with my colleagues today. It is a motion that should be supported. I am happy that the Minister of State has also been supportive of it. I was unaware of the fact that speakers could make contributions after the Minister of State had responded to the motion. Perhaps I should have been aware of this and I have been terribly negligent. It was a slip-up in my part. I had intended to speak on this issue, but I did not anticipate having the opportunity to do so.

While the provision of free contraception is part of the programme for Government, it is worthy and worthwhile that Senators Pauline O'Reilly, Garvey, Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Hackett, brought forward this motion, because it is an important one. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to make contraception freely available to all women, and that is as it should be. However, the motion is also timely and important because it will give impetus and strong, public support to the issue. It will also leave the Government on notice that is a commitment that must be honoured, and that those putting forward the motion are insisting that it be honoured. That is a worthwhile exercise, and it is representative of how the democratic system and our parliamentary system works.

The principle that all women should have access to free contraception is a good one on a number of levels. It removes an inequality at the income level, which is a real form of inequality. It also deals with situations where people are in extremely difficult, barbarous, horrendous and medieval relationships, and where they may not have a supportive partner or another who can help them to access contraception. These women may be victims of domestic bullying or violence, or a combination thereof, who cannot access contraception because they have to purchase it. That is a very important dimension of this motion. Tragically, not all relationships and situations are as they should be.It deals with that scenario and with the scenario whereby there is an inequality of income. There should be no issue there. It should assist people who are living in long-term poverty, who are unemployed and so on. It should be across the board. Access to contraception is and should be a woman’s right in a civilised and modern society that can afford to facilitate it. In many ways, it could be seen as an act of atonement to women for years of it being wrongly the other way, for want of better English. The weight of injustice was so great for so many years in the opposite direction that it would be an exercise in atonement or a public apology through practical support. That is another reason to do it.

The Minister of State alluded to the fact that the free availability of contraception has to be accompanied by good sexual education, good public health education and supports, in educational terms in a good programme in schools, etc. It is not enough to do this is an isolated fashion. I am sure the proposers of the motion would accept that it is not enough to suggest that contraception be made available in the absence of the necessary support system, health services, education and so on.

I know from working with him and from being in this House with him for a long time that the Minister of State brings a big heart to politics and will be the first to say that we cannot use these things as excuses. We have to get on with the legislation, put it in place and provide the necessary supports in parallel. There can be no excuses. Sometimes you hear somebody saying that they do not want such a neighbour living beside them because there are not enough schools or supports. In essence, they do not want the neighbour in the first place and they use these excuses. The same principle applies here. We cannot put any barriers in the way. It is the right thing to do and we should do it.

Those are the substantive points I want to make. Sex education or sexual education - whatever the correct terminology is - in our schools is crucial. People should be educated in relationships, in mutual respect and in the integrity of the other individual. A good programme into schools is a sine qua non, as is a good, supportive public health system for our women. It should be an interventionist system where that is needed in order that there will be intervention were wrong exists. We should, as a priority, introduce free contraception to deal with income disparity, lack of access to resources and, specifically, abusive relationships and circumstances where people have addictive personalities or have other ways of spending their income to the detriment of their well-being. It is important that a supportive system be put in place in this regard.

I indicate, as my colleagues have done, that we strongly support the motion. We support the Green Party in bringing it forward. It is progressive and right and it should not be the subject of debate. I do not think it is the subject of debate. All that is at issue is saying we want it to happen as quickly as possible. We do not want it to go off the radar. It does not give rise to any cleavages or disagreement. I described the Minister of State as a man with heart earlier. I do not think anyone with a heart, a mind or a combination of the two could oppose this motion. It should happen and the fact that it should happen is not a reason to ignore it. It is important that the motion is there and that it happens. One cannot assume that the right thing will happen if one says nothing. I congratulate the Green Party. This is an excellent motion. My main objective is to indicate the universal support in the Fine Gael group for it. That emerged at our meetings and everywhere else. There is nothing but enthusiastic support in our group.