Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am simply making the point. The endocrinologist, Professor Donal O'Shea said - again I am paraphrasing from memory - that the HSE and the politicians were in the grip of the activists. The idea that when we are dealing with the HSE we are dealing with some kind of honourable neutral, incapable of being corrupted by ideology, has long since lost its credibility. However, I reiterate that the Minister has signally failed to bring forward evidence from a single healthcare facility. Let us be clear that we are talking about people who I would not want to call protesters. The people I would want to defend today are the witnesses, and I will say a little bit more about them in a moment.

Years in to this debate, nobody has managed to draw our attention to a single healthcare providing institution that says there is a problem on the ground. I want to put on the record something the Minister cited in support of his position. In a funny kind of way it might illustrate what I am trying to talk about. In July 2022, the Minister issued a statement that included the following: "I wish to acknowledge the helpful public discussion on safe access zones over recent months, and in particular the work of the Together for Safety group in informing the development of legislative proposals." This is the only organisation apart from the HSE that I have heard the Minister quote. Regarding the organisation, the University of Limerick Hospitals Group was forced to take the extraordinary step of issuing a statement challenging claims that there had been "intimidatory" anti-abortion protests outside its facilities. Last year, a spokesperson for Cork University Maternity Hospital, CUMH, told the Irish Examiner newspaper that, "To date, CUMH has not received any complaints from patients regarding the protests". The spokesperson also explained that alleged protests are very infrequent and typically consist of between two and four people.

Let us reflect on that for a moment. We have two university hospitals setting the record straight, one of them following claims from an abortion activist advocacy group, Together for Safety. These two hospitals groups not only put the record straight, but in the case of Cork, did not receive any complaints from patients regarding the protests. The spokesperson explained that alleged protests are very infrequent and typically consist of between two and four people. When the public listening in want to adjudicate on who is being dishonest they must decide whether it is the Minister when he is talking and having a go and spewing venom against people who are, as he puts it, "in people's faces" or the reputable institutions that make it clear that there has not been a problem.

By way of a coda to this, I will reference one thing that is relevant. I was born in Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. My mother was a nurse there. We have a long knowledge of and acquaintance with the hospital and we are very grateful for the healthcare that we as a family have received there over the years. Last December, when I heard the sad news that the service of abortion provision would be extended to Portiuncula in Ballinasloe I made some comments to the effect that I was very sad about this. I thought about the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi that led to the establishment of the hospital and hence the name, Portiuncula. I said that I encouraged people in Ballinasloe and the surrounding area to take every opportunity to engage with the medical and other staff at the hospital, courteously and constructively, to discourage the practice of abortion and to never let up until human life is fully respected again in Portiuncula and in all other healthcare facilities in Ireland.

People say we have privilege in this House but we have to, rightly, be held to account for any statements we make in press releases or elsewhere. I have no problem with that at all. Can the Members believe that this statement of courteous and constructive engagement led to a complaint about me to the Committee on Members Interests of Seanad Éireann? It was claimed that I had not upheld my duty. It is relevant that yesterday it landed on my desk and that the Oireachtas committee met on 17 January and decided that this complaint was frivolous and vexatious. Why is that relevant? It is relevant because this frivolous and vexatious complaint came from the Together for Safety group, or a member thereof, to whom I will give the charity of anonymity in the Chamber.

I merely make the point that these are the people on whom the Minister relies. These are the ideologues. Why is that significant? It is significant because we heard today from friends of mine, Erin and Tom, in the Chamber. I do not make light of their personal experience. The truth of the matter is that we are all of us flesh and blood.We all have a mixture of emotion and intellect and we all bring our life experience and reflections on that experience to the consideration of these issues, and none of us has a monopoly on compassion. In this regard, consider my concern for the protection of unborn children, for the protection of excellent standards of healthcare and for witnessing to the dignity of every human life, which concern I express while hoping and working for a day when our hospitals will not be places where the intentional termination of innocent life is characterised as abortion care, healthcare or care of any kind. People who share this concern also bring their emotions and life experience to the situation and therefore it is wrong to posit a difference between ordinary people who are suffering and people who witness to the dignity of human life, characterising the latter as mere protesters.

I suspect that if I were to try, I would have no difficulty introducing Senators to people who have, outside hospitals or on the street, witnessed to the injustice of abortion, who themselves may have suffered miscarriages or had abortions but who know the value of a child and the importance of honouring authentic healthcare for the protection of mother and child, and who are not into judging any person but simply trying to hold up a candle in the darkness that is Ireland’s abortion law, with our massive increase in the number of abortions in recent years and our laws that do not provide for any precautionary pain relief where late-term abortions take place. We have heard reports of the trauma some healthcare staff experienced on seeing late-term abortions where the infants emerged alive, giving rise to the question of whether there should be palliative care in the circumstances. Considering the barbarism that has descended on us in some cases, we seem to be rapidly catching up with Britain in our unthinking cruelty. All this feeds into a consciousness among many in our society that there must be a better way than abortion.

When my friend and colleague Tom Clonan spoke, I was unaware of his personal story and, indeed, the loss of his daughter Liadain. I deeply sympathise with him on what he and his family have suffered. I deeply sympathise with Senator McGreehan too, just as I sympathise with Senator Keogan on her experiences. I sympathise with members of my own family. Senator Clonan, as he was leaving the Chamber, said he understood my position but I said that, while I did not understand his, I deeply sympathised with him on what he has gone through. The reason I do not understand his position is that I believe that when a person suffers a trauma like the one under discussion, it is not necessarily at the point of leaving the hospital that upsetting things and realities are encountered. Many have encountered, within hospitals, the unwitting cruelties of healthcare staff under pressure in a system that can sometimes be quite cruel. We are all aware of the experiences people have. There is cruelty that can happen by accident and there is intentional cruelty. The distinction we should draw is between the intentional cruelty that might be inflicted by some in the way they communicate on these issues and the decent witnessing to the respect that is due to human life in which people in a democracy should be able to engage.

I noticed that my colleague Senator McGreehan referred to the referendum and more or less threw it in my face that since I oppose what I regard to be the disrespecting of mothers by taking the reference to them out of the Constitution, if that happens – I hope it will not-----