Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 6 would ensure that silent prayer is protected. In England, several people were interrogated, arrested and fined for simply standing in the vicinity of abortion providers' premises and silently praying without holding any signs or making any statements. One man, Mr. Adam Smith-Connor, was asked by a police officer "What is the nature of your prayer?" When Mr. Smith-Connor said he was praying for the unborn child and in memory of his son who was aborted, he was arrested. This is Orwellian, and it breaches Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which includes the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

The Bill, as it currently stands, makes it quite possible we would see similar situations to this whereby people would be arrested for silently engaging in private prayer if it happened to be within one of these sprawling 100 m zones. What about our protections for prayer that is ordinary customary practice, and which is inherently public in nature and unrelated to protest or advocacy, for example with Corpus Christi processions, at graveyards, near a hospital where there may be a funeral and where the rosary is being said during a public procession or at a wedding or an indoor venue? This amendment would prevent that possibility.

Amendment No. 8 provides for the exemption of a property that acts as a place of worship. It expands on the law to ensure that people can express their views within the grounds of the churches and other places of worship. At present, the protection relating to places of worship does not go far enough and the provisions in section 3 unfairly encroach on people's religious rights, particularly when they are within the grounds of religious properties.This amendment changes that specific exclusion of church grounds from the scope of the section 3(2) exemption into specific inclusion of church grounds within the scope of the section 3(2) exemption. Thank you.