Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome. I also warmly welcome Poushali Kundu from the National Women's Council, who has taken the time to be here for this debate. I commend Senators McGreehan and Clonan for speaking so powerfully on this matter. It is hard to add to that.

I will briefly speak to the amendment. As someone who spent most of his life protesting as a trade unionist and socialist, there is nothing here that threatens protest. We are calling for a 100 m cordon. The reason we are calling for it has been set out extremely powerfully by two previous speakers. In that moment of difficulty, the last thing a woman needs to see is protesters of any kind. The idea that this is a massive curtailment of the right to protest is simply false. It is 100 m; that is all. It is just enough space to give someone dignity and privacy in those challenging circumstances. A key principle all of us should believe in is that anyone seeking healthcare has the right to privacy, dignity and respect. That unites most of us in this Chamber.

I commend the many people who have played a key role in pushing for this legislation. It was almost laughable to hear Senator Mullen talk about the Minister being open to special interest groups. That is nonsense. There has been a five-year campaign to get here today, undertaken by ordinary people. As I said the last day, I disagree fundamentally with the Minister on many things, but I commend him on taking this Bill forward. It has nothing to do with special interest groups. It has to do with the fact that when we passed that repeal referendum all those years ago, there was an immediate commitment from the then Minister, Simon Harris, to act to establish safe zones. We know and see what has happened in other parts of the world, including America, where there is horrendous intimidation of women seeking healthcare. It has taken five years to get to this stage. We need to get this done because it was very much understood at the time of the referendum.