Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I said I would not make any further contributions but I feel compelled to comment further. I am happy to virtue signal my enthusiastic support for safe access zones. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with showing strong support for something.

With regard to the issue of religion being demonised, that is not the case at all. I am a religious person, as I have always said, but I do not believe there is any conflict between my religious position and trying to support women accessing healthcare. There never has been a conflict. I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of a woman's right to choose. I have certainly never displayed any intolerance towards religious people.

There has been a lot of talk around human rights aspect of freedom of expression of religious positions. There is a human rights aspect to accessing healthcare, and that trumps. To access healthcare is one of the most basic rights that anybody has and access to abortion care is healthcare. It is on the same spectrum as any other form of healthcare. I strongly believe that. Religious expression, as set out in the Constitution - there is plenty of case law on this - relates to wearing a cross around one's neck, or the wearing of the hijab or the Jewish kippah. This is the expression of religion. Ireland is an overwhelmingly Catholic country but I have rarely seen people praying randomly praying on street corners. It does not happen. Religious expression through prayer happens in a church generally. The only people I have seen praying on the streets are those who are outside health facilities. It is not an integral part of religious expression; it is done with the intent to intimidate.

On the idea of counselling women who may be undecided or conflicted in their decision, if they are going into a health facility, they have already made a decision. If they are going to get any counselling, it will not be on the street from some random with no qualification. There are many excellent counsellors who provide an excellent service. As to the idea that someone might be swayed outside at the point of going in the door, that just does not happen.

Senator Mullen also raised the point that Ireland does not have abortion clinics, so praying outside is not to intimidate any one person going in. This speaks to the point I made earlier, whereby anybody going in to access any sort of service could potentially be intimidated. One does not know what a person is going in to face. Senator Clonan's contribution was very powerful. Many people are going in for happy moments but they may be going in for very traumatic moments in their lives. Over the course of a nine-month pregnancy, there may be many happy moments or many tragic moments. It is a constant roller-coaster, and I have been on it a few times. It is a very difficult position to be in and to think that anybody would be intimidated going in to access healthcare is mind-boggling.

Senator Mullen spoke about telemedicine. This has actually been a very welcome and progressive step and anybody who thinks there is anything negative about telemedicine would really want to talk to the providers. The providers I have spoken to have been very happy with it. It deals with the complexities of women's lives. Women have a lot of other responsibilities and may be facing childcare constraints. It is because we do not have wide access to abortion care in Ireland that many women cannot travel long distances with patchy public transport. Telemedicine has been a very welcome measure.

I will leave my comments at that. I hope I will not be compelled to correct the record any further.

Senator Boylan spoke on the correspondence she received. It is not even that statements were randomly put out online. This was direct correspondence directed at the Senator. That is much more intimidating than some randomly post. I thank the Senator for sharing that. Unfortunately, we have all received correspondence like that but it is important sometimes to put on the record of the House that we are still receiving it.