Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and insult every woman in this country, as he has, it really does take some neck. I will address two of the points he raised.Can someone commit an offence inadvertently? No. It is very clear in the Bill that is the point of the Garda warning. Now, of course, we come to your claim that none of this is happening, women are not being intimidated. This country has a dark history when it comes to women's healthcare. It has a dark, disgraceful history when it comes to women's reproductive health and the decades of outrageous behaviour orchestrated between the church and the State. For you to stand up here and say none of this is happening, that these women, the advocacy groups, the doctors I talk and the HSE, particularly in its pre-legislative submission, are all lying harks back to decades ago when people were saying not to worry about what was going on in those laundries. It was a case of: "It is fine, they are just washing sheets. Do not mind what is going on with these women moving to London. Do not worry about any of that. Let us not worry about these women and these babies who have disappeared from our country. It is all false. There is nothing to see here, move on." The idea that women are lying about being intimidated and the idea that you would suggest that they are lying about their testimony with regard to being intimidated is disgraceful. The idea that you would suggest that the doctors who talk to me about what is going on outside their surgeries are liars and that they are manufacturing this is absolutely disgraceful. It is not surprising, but it is disgraceful. I reject utterly----