Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues for their contributions to this Second Stage debate. I am aware that this is an issue close to the hearts of Senators and the Seanad has played a leading in this through the cross-party sponsorship of a previous Bill. I also recognise the civil society work done to date on this by Together for Safety. It has played a really important role getting us to where we are today. I also recognise that there are diverse views on this issue and it is essential that we have an open debate, that we listen to each other, and respect each other's views. In July last year, I received Government approval to draft the legislation to ensure safe access to premises where termination services are provided. We have been working since then to bring forward the draft we have today.

The Bill will allow patients, service providers, healthcare staff and members of the public to enter and leave premises without fear of intimidation and harassment. It will also promote a culture of respect for the dignity and autonomy of individual decisions with regard to healthcare matters and will protect those from unsolicited influence. Officials from my Department have engaged extensively with the Office of the Attorney General and other relevant stakeholders in the course of putting this Bill together to ensure that all areas of the legislation have been considered carefully and in detail. As reflected by Senators in the debate we have just had, this is a complex area of law seeking to balance competing constitutional rights. We have rightly heard from contributors to this debate that it is vitally important women can access lawfully available healthcare services without fear, harassment or intimidation. My own long-standing position on this is clear.

However, it is equally important that the impact of the proposed legislation on the rights of those affected is proportionate to the objectives we are seeking to achieve. Freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion are fundamental rights in a democratic society. Ireland has significant human rights commitments and obligations, both domestically through the Constitution, and internationally. Article 40.6.1° of Bunreacht na hÉireann provides that the State guarantees liberty for the exercise, subject to public order and morality, of the right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions, as well as the right of citizens to assemble peaceably. Similar rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, to freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion are protected in the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a large copy of which hangs in my office.These freedoms are subject to exceptions but, while that is so, the United Nations has specified that states should establish a positive presumption in favour of peaceful assembly. This means that there is a very delicate balance to be struck in devising the legislation we have before us. We are all elected representatives and, regardless of our political views or our views on any given policy, I know that every Member of this House and of Dáil Éireann believes passionately and forcefully in the right to protest, the right to assembly and all of the associated rights I have just listed. I say that as someone who has had protests outside his own house. We welcome and encourage protest and I am sure we have all been involved in protests outside Leinster House and in many other areas. We absolutely support and defend those rights. Therefore, when we bring in legislation that creates exemptions to those rights, such as this Bill, we do so in a very careful way. I believe this Bill has got the balance right. It acknowledges and promotes, on a proportionate basis, the human rights and constitutional rights involved. Critically, as many contributors have said today, it ensures safe access to legal healthcare services in our country. Ultimately, that is what this Bill is about. It is not intended as a general prohibition on expression, assembly or protest. It does not interfere with the right to advocate. That applies to both sides of the abortion debate.

Section 3 sets out the exemptions that apply with regard to prohibited conduct. The mechanism for the Garda warning also enhances legal certainty. There was a lot of debate on this in the Dáil and on Committee Stage and I have no doubt that we will have further discussion of it on Committee Stage in the Seanad. As discussed, on foot of Committee Stage discussions in the Dáil, we have added a review clause because this is unique legislation and we want to make sure we get it right. If it does not unfold as we want it to, a timely review will see if any changes are required.

I thank Senators for their very generous words on women's healthcare in Ireland. This is part of that. As has been alluded to, we are looking to provide proper world-class services right across the spectrum of care. Part of that relates to fertility. We have free contraception in place and we are expanding that provision year by year so that it will ultimately apply to all women. The feedback on this has been really positive. GPs and healthcare providers have said there has been a very large take-up among the eligible age cohorts. It is very interesting that GPs have said there has been an unintended benefit in that they are getting younger women into their clinics who would never normally have come in to talk to a GP because they are healthy. GPs are getting to talk to these women about their physical and mental health and their lifestyles. They have said this has been very positive.

After that, as Senators have alluded to, we have invested very heavily in the maternity strategy. Again, there has been a focus on choice for women. This includes birthing pools and midwifery-led care or community-based care as well as hospital-based care.

On termination services, we have had a modest increase in the number of GPs providing services. I believe, as do many Senators here, that this legislation will help by providing those GPs with additional safety and security. We saw really important progress in the last week in that five more maternity hospitals have now signed up. This means we are now at 17 of the 19. We are in very active discussions with the final two.

We have also been providing additional services in respect of fertility. We have launched IVF. When we get the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill through, we will be able to move to publicly provided IVF and extend it to donor-assisted IVF for both heterosexual and same-sex female couples. I have just come from a briefing with the advocacy groups on surrogacy and assisted human reproduction. We got the Bill through Cabinet two days ago. A vast amount of work was done to do that this year but I did commit to getting it over the line before Christmas. That has happened.

We are also investing in menopause services, endometriosis services, perinatal mental health teams, mental health services, eating disorder teams and a lot more. We are going to continue this through next year. We have had a two-year women's health action plan. It has gone really well. If every part of the health service responded and implemented things at the pace the women's health teams have, we would be in a fantastic place altogether. This is an important part of it. It is only one part but it is part of a spectrum of care.

We all know that Ireland has a dark history in respect of women's healthcare with regard to reproductive rights and more broadly. It is extraordinary that there has been a stigma around discussing menopause. It is also kind of extraordinary that we have not had specialist menopause and endometriosis services in our country. Anyway, we are putting all of that behind us. This is an important part of that. Our ambition is for Ireland to be seen as one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to modern women-centred healthcare with the voice of the patient, the woman, front and centre both in the provision of care and in determining where investment should go and what new services need to be provided. I thank colleagues for their contributions. I look forward to engaging again on Committee Stage, which I hope will be very soon.