Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Minister. I also acknowledge his constant availability and engagement with us.

It is only fair that I commend Sinn Féin colleagues on tabling the Bill. They have put this issue on our agenda. All of us are shocked at the carry-on around hospitals. Let us remember that 68% of the population voted to repeal the eighth amendment three years ago.Termination of pregnancy services are now available in hospitals in this country but they are not available to the level they should be because medical people are threatened, intimidated and are afraid to provide them because of the backlash from ultra-right, dangerous, fascist groups who think it is appropriate and proper to protest outside hospitals and other healthcare settings. It is not appropriate and it is not good enough.

I am disappointed the Minister has not brought a Bill before this House to deal with this situation at this stage, as per the commitment in the programme for Government. The Government has been in place for more than a year now, this has been going on for the past year, and yet we do not have legislation from the Government to deal with this issue. If we achieve nothing else tonight, I hope the Minister brings legislation before this House. If the Sinn Féin Bill does progress, as we expect it will, people in this House will be put in an invidious position in terms of what they do because none of us can stand over what is going on outside healthcare settings in this country at the moment. It is morally reprehensible. It is wrong, abusive and disgraceful. We have seen how women have been treated by this State for decades and this is just another example of what this country is doing to women because we are not dealing with it. The fact the Government has not legislated for safe access to healthcare settings is an abuse of women. I applaud the Together for Safety group for highlighting these issues and telling the stories of the people who have been blackguarded outside hospitals in this country.

Does the Minister agree that this legislation is necessary in the first instance? I hope he does. Senator Clifford-Lee referenced comments the Minister has made and I take that in good faith, but I want a timeline from the Minister. When is he going to bring Government legislation before the House that we can vote on and deal with? There may very well be legal issues with the Sinn Féin Bill and, if that is so, let us deal with them. Alternatively, the Minister must bring his own Bill before the House, but either way this issue has to be addressed. We cannot have a situation where a woman in a crisis pregnancy or a difficult situation who is going for medical treatment is faced with a barrage of protests, is approached and asked what she is doing and what is the purpose of her visit. That is barbaric and I am sure the Minister agrees with me. It is not good enough and it cannot be allowed to continue. We in the Oireachtas must make sure it does not happen and I cannot understand why we have not done so already.

I want an explanation from the Minister as to why he has not brought legislation before the House to date. What is the reason for it? What is the rationale for not bringing legislation before the Houses of the Oireachtas to deal with a problem of which the Minister and everyone here is aware? This is an important Bill and I commend our Sinn Féin colleagues on bringing it to the House tonight and for putting this issue on the agenda. It is important this was done and it is critically important it is acted on.