Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gavan for giving me the opportunity to inform the House, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, of the progress made to date on the safe access zones legislation. I believe the vast majority of us agree that nobody should be harassed, insulted, intimidated or interfered with in any way, or have their decision to access lawful healthcare services subject to attempted influence in an unsolicited way by strangers. The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone needing a termination of pregnancy can access services in safety and with privacy and dignity. This commitment is reflected in the programme for Government.

Progressing safe access zones legislation is a priority for the Minister, and he and his officials have placed a substantial focus on developing robust policy and legislative proposals, recognising the complexity of the issues involved. The Minister brought detailed legislative proposals to Government at the end of July, and he was delighted to secure Government approval for the general scheme of a Bill. The objective of this general scheme and its underlying policy is to protect the right of a woman to access a healthcare service safely, with privacy and dignity, and without facing unsolicited attempts to influence her decision to access it. It will also protect service providers and their staff in the course of their duties and responsibilities.

The proposals aim to establish a 100 m safe access zone around all healthcare facilities that can provide termination of pregnancy services, not just those that currently do, including, for example, all hospitals and GP practices. Within those zones, conduct which is intended to, or may reasonably have the effect of, influencing the decision of a person regarding availing of, or providing, services related to termination of pregnancy will be prohibited. Careful consideration has been given to developing proposals that balance a range of rights, including the right to protest, while ensuring that the legitimate aim to protect the right of a woman to access, and to access safely and with privacy and dignity, termination of pregnancy services is achieved.

For the general information of the House, the general scheme of the Bill for safe access zones was published by the Minister for Health in early August and it is available on the Department's website. The general scheme also provides further detailed explanatory notes on the proposed provisions. Following Government approval, the Department has engaged with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Data Protection Commission and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties seeking any observations they may have.

The Department will continue to engage closely with the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice, the HSE and An Garda Síochána in drafting the final Bill, recognising all the complexities involved. The Minister for Health will also seek the support of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the legislative proposals as quickly as possible and he acknowledges the helpful public discussion on safe access zones in recent months. The Minister is committed to seeing the Bill drafted as quickly as possible so that it can be introduced to the Oireachtas, while ensuring the final legislation is as robust as possible. The Senator mentioned a Christmas timeline, and I will try to get information regarding the timeline from the Minister. He looks forward to the support of the Senator and, indeed, everyone in the Houses of the Oireachtas in progressing this important legislation.