Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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It is always good to see the Minister of State. Having said that I must express my disappointment that nobody from the Department of Health was available today. This is the second time the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has declined an invitation to the House to talk to me about an important issue. Whether he is dealing with an important matter of the State or whether he is washing his hair, I do hope his afternoon is going well.

I want to talk to the Minister of State about the safe access zones Bill that has been-long promised but which we have yet to see delivered to either House of the Oireachtas. I will provide a little bit of a backdrop. In May 2021, I tabled a Commencement matter on this topic and the then Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, came to the House and said that the view of the Department was that we did not need a safe access zones Bill and that the legislation was bedding down nicely. This was quite a shocking statement to make considering what was happening outside several hospitals, with protesters trying to intimidate women seeking a termination.

Thanks to the Together for Safety group, I was privileged to introduce a safe access zones Bill later in 2021, which the Minister of State will know has passed all Stages in the Seanad. During a debate on that Bill, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, asked me if I was willing to work with the Government to help pass his Bill and I said "Yes". He assured me, as only he can, that we would have a Bill introduced no later than March 2022. One year later, and almost three years after the pledge in the programme for Government, we are still waiting. I attended a private meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health in March 2022 and no one from the Department who attended that meeting could tell me anything about when we would see the Bill.

I am glad to say the situation has moved on. We saw the heads of Bill published last autumn. I attended another meeting of the Joint Committee on Health in January, and it was clear the Department has been doing good work in trying to progress the Bill. However, it still could not give an indication as to when the Bill would be ready to be introduced in the Dáil or Seanad. When I asked Department staff what the outstanding issues regarding the Bill that needed to be finalised were, of the issues listed they highlighted Garda warnings and specifically whether there would be a requirement to include temporal and geographical limits on those warnings. There was also the question around the interaction between warnings and criminal law, and I was assured the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government, OPC, was looking at that. The other issue was the delineation of zones and, again, I was reassured that "good progress" was being made on this. Finally, I was told there were some small outstanding issues about Garda powers.

We were assured the OPC was already working on this issue. Therefore, I hope the Minister of State will give a meaningful update as regards where the last few issues are at, as it is more than two months since that update. We were told at that meeting of the Joint Committee on Health, "We are most of the way there with this". Therefore, I am hopeful that nearly three years into the life of this Government, I will finally be given a date as to when the Bill will be published. I do not need to tell the Minister of State how urgent it is when one considers the fact that only one in ten GPs have signed up to offer abortion services. We know, and the Department has acknowledged, that intimidation from these protests is a major factor in that regard.

I have another brief question on a related matter and I think the Minister of State will appreciate it. She may be aware that the repeal review report, by Marie O'Shea, has been with the Minister for nearly a month and it has not been published. There is a growing concern among many people that the Government is dragging its feet on the publication of this crucial report. Will the Minister of State provide an update on when the Minister will publish the report? There is no reason for him to sit on it. An update on that would also be very welcome.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I hope I will not disappoint the Senator with my answer but I am afraid I cannot add much more information. I would, however, say that I am deeply interested and invested in the passage of this legislation, in addition to the correct receipt, review and consideration of that very important report and what needs to follow from that.

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to be here although I appreciate he would have preferred to have the Minister here on this occasion. I do not know what he is doing. I imagine he is attending to matters in his Department. Of the Minister, the Senator and the Acting Chair - I hope they will forgive me for pointing this out - I am the person who might have difficulty washing my hair rather than any of the three of your good selves.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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It was mentioned in an ironic way.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that. I imagine he is working in the Department, but I do not know. In any event, the Senator will be aware that the Front Bench cover try to do the best they can to get information to Members. I totally agree that nobody should be harassed, insulted or intimidated in any way, frankly, at any healthcare setting but particularly involving a matter of such sensitivity. People should not have their decision to access lawful healthcare services subject to attempted influence in an unsolicited way by strangers or, indeed, persons who are not strangers.

Progressing safe access zones legislation is a priority for the Minister and the Government, and is certainly a priority for me. To this end the general scheme of a Bill was published in August 2022. Work on the finer detail of the legislation is ongoing and the Department continues to engage closely with the Office of the Attorney General and all relevant stakeholders, including An Garda Síochána. Both the Minister and the Department are committed to finalising the Bill as expeditiously as possible.

Cabinet approval was secured in July 2022 to legislate for the designation of safe access zones around healthcare premises to safeguard access to termination of pregnancy services. The general scheme of the health (regulation of termination of pregnancy (safe access zones)) Bill was published in August 2022. A formal Bill is currently being drafted by the Office of the Attorney General, in consultation with the Department. I understand that pre-legislative scrutiny is ongoing, and the last hearing was held with departmental officials on 18 January 2023, six weeks ago. That is the best update I can provide to the Senator at this point.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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It is not the fault of the Minister of State; I accept that entirely. She has been handed a script, which I think she will acknowledge is entirely inadequate. It tells me nothing that I did not already know having attended the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health on 18 January. It is extremely disappointing because we need to know when this Bill will be introduced.

The Minister is on record as having promised the Bill would have been introduced in either the Dáil or the Seanad over a year ago. It is another broken promise by the Minister, in addition to the fact that he cannot find the time to turn up here. I did ask for the reason he was not available. No reason was provided. That is disrespectful not just to me but to this House. It is not good enough. That is not the Minister of State's fault; I acknowledge that. However, it is hugely frustrating. The statement tells us nothing that we did not already know.

Here is my worry. I represent an awful lot of people, including those in the Together for Safety group, who have campaigned passionately on this matter, as the Minister of State knows. There is a real fear that the Government is foot-dragging on this. I cannot for the life of me understand why the few outstanding issues, which I learned about in January, have not been closed out by now and why someone in the Department could not have given the Minister of State something more to say in terms of when we will see this Bill. Surely to God we will see it by June, but from what has been said here, there is no indication. Will we go into the summer recess with no further information? It is a failure of this Government, a failure that lies fairly and squarely at the feet of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I understand that I do not have more detailed information for the Senator, but the broader point is how it was a Fine Gael Government that introduced this legislation to put to the people in relation to the referendum. There is certainly no lack of commitment about the provision of appropriate healthcare services for every person in this country, on my part or the part of my party. There is a body of work to be done within the Department of Health. It is not a Department that produces a great deal of legislation. It should be available. If it is going through pre-legislative scrutiny, that is probably a good thing. It also helps the passage of the legislation by going through the Houses in a more efficient way because people have had good sight of and engagement on this prior to the publication of the Bill.

I apologise that I do not have a date for the Senator. It would not be typical that one would have that. I do not believe pre-legislative scrutiny has concluded at this point. It is, therefore, not clear to me what report will be published by the Joint Committee on Health, for example, if that is to follow, as would normally be the case, and what the response of that would be. If that is the case, as I understand it, that pre-legislative scrutiny is continuing, that is an appropriate next step. I believe everybody in the campaign would want to see that process completed in order to have the best and most efficient and constructive passage of legislation through both Houses.