Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. I am glad that the day has come where this legislation has come before us and we will progress it through the Seanad. As he alluded to, he has discussed this topic here on a few occasions. He has behaved very constructively with the Opposition and everybody here who have tried to improve the situation and he has come back to us with really good legislation. I commend the Minister and his officials in the Department on diligently working on this and delivering robust and workable legislation.

The Minister's contribution was littered with words like "privacy", "dignity", "human rights" and people accessing lawful health services. That is what this Bill is about and is what we are all trying to achieve. I commend everybody involved in Together for Safety group because they have not let this issue go for all these years.

As the Minister rightly pointed out, this legislation was promised in 2019. It arose following the report compiled by the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and we proceeded with a referendum. Some people thought that this is where the issue of termination services lay, and we had gotten over that hump and could all move on but of course many gaps remained. Safe access zones was one of the gaps. I am glad that this gap is being closed now and, together with the free contraception scheme, we are delivering on the recommendations of the committee.

As the Minister alluded to, it is a very difficult to strike a balance between constitutional rights and human rights but the right balance has been struck in this legislation.The Minister has thought long and hard about how we go about it. The clause that has been added regarding the review is very good. It will allay some fears about the abuse of the legislation or the potential for harm that comes with it. Hopefully, we can move it ahead and move the debate on in a respectful manner.

I want to talk about the impact of the lack of safe access zones around hospitals. We have heard some really awful stories. I was contacted by a woman who unfortunately suffered a stillbirth. She was in one of the maternity hospitals and obviously, it was a hugely difficult and traumatic experience for her. When she was in the hospital, her elderly parents came from Donegal to visit her. Obviously, they were incredibly upset that their first grandchild had died in a stillbirth. She told me they were met with white coffins, crosses and people harassing them as they were going in to see their daughter. Hopefully, situations like that will not happen again.