Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will make two brief points. The first relates to counselling. The key point about counselling is that professional and therapeutic counselling is entered into by the distressed person. That person makes a choice. One cannot have counsellors walking the street looking for sad people and saying "Hey, do you want some help with that?" That is not how counselling works. I am conscious of the fact that an anti-choice Deputy has suggested that what has been going on has been counselling, which is nonsense of course. It is nothing of the kind. I wanted to address the issue of counselling because I know Senator Mullen was keen that we would do so.

We have heard the phrase "flirting with fascism". Let me describe the reality of flirting with fascism in Limerick right now. There are activists in this Chamber who have been called at work by anti-choice activists to ask them why they are supporting this Bill. There are activists in this Chamber who have had their pictures taken down from social media and Photoshopped to look like witches. Leaflets have been printed and shoved through the letter boxes of their neighbours and friends in their communities. We talk about flirting with fascism; we know exactly which side is flirting with fascism.