Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is easy to take the behaviour of the worst elements of our society and to try to bolt them onto the cause one most dislikes and use that to attract odium towards that cause.It does not need to be said by any of us here that we do and should deplore any ad hominemargument. Before I Informed colleagues today that I thought this legislation flirts with fascism and the action it supports flirts with fascism, I was very careful to say that there was nothing ad hominemin what I am saying. I attack and I attempt to judge no person. I have a duty as a Member of this Oireachtas to tell the truth as I see it on the basis of the facts as I apprehend them, and to make a judgment on legislation that I believe to be deeply harmful. It is harmful to our democracy, disrespectful to people and utterly disrespectful of the unborn who die as a result of abortion. It is also disrespectful of women because it disrespects those who experience a complexity about the decision to have an abortion and are open to respectful exchanges with their loved ones and people they do not know but who might have a concern and respect for them and simply want them to make a different choice for their sake and for the sake of the child involved.

It is not a lot to ask that a person who wants to communicate in this way, silently by their presence in the vicinity of a facility where abortions are taking place, verbally where there is a consensual approach to the exchange of ideas, or informally in the coffee shop within or without a facility where abortions are taking place, should be able to communicate ideas respectfully without fear of somebody overhearing, reporting them and trying to get gardaí involved in their life in a way that would not last a second before our courts but which the legislators here today have no problem advancing because it satisfies a political goal of signalling enthusiastic support for our abortion laws, to the point where we will crush all dissent in a way that is not befitting a mature and healthy democracy.

I will make one last point. In Ireland we do not have abortion clinics. We have GP facilities and worryingly we now have abortions taking place through telemedicine, with no concern being expressed by supporters of abortion for the risk this entails around coercive abortions taking place or abortions taking place that would facilitate, mask and prevent the discovery of abuse of women above and under the age of consent. There is no concern about that at all because nothing that ever challenges abortion can ever be discussed. That is the impetus at the heart of all of this.

We do not have abortion clinics in Ireland. We have facilities that people may approach for thousands of reasons. There is no visibility of the person who approaches another person for abortion-related services. It follows from that that even if people of ill-intent wanted to harass or intimidate, which is something we would all oppose, they simply would not be able to do it because of the structure of the situation in Ireland. This is perhaps why it was clear to the Garda Commissioner, if not to the Minister for Health, that we actually do not need this legislation at all. Those are the issues.

These amendments simply seek to allow people to communicate respectfully in a way that a democracy should always allow. They recognise that if people want to pray, which may not be my style in that context, respect for other people's rights never ends with just the things you agree with yourself. The test is whether you are willing to put up with the things that do not suit you and you do not normally roll with. There is no sign of that inclusiveness here today.