Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

At the outset, I want to acknowledge the passing of Councillor Joe Carroll on Friday. He was exceptionally helpful and supportive towards me when I first entered into politics. That is the kind of person he was, and the kind of person who will be missed, in Skibbereen and beyond. My thoughts are with Sheila, and Linda and Kieran, and Anna.
Eight years ago, Ireland voted to repeal the eighth amendment, to take abortion access out of the Constitution and into the hands of the legislators in this House. It was the culmination of decades of campaigning by committed activists all across the country. Many people across this House, including the Taoiseach, were part of that referendum campaign.
From my experience canvassing in west Cork, I know the stories from women late-on in pregnancy who were forced to travel abroad to have terminations for medical reasons were the stories that stuck in people's minds and hearts the most - women who, in the midst of grief and trauma, chose to speak publicly to share deeply personal experiences. They spoke about receiving devastating diagnoses. They spoke about being told they could not receive care in their country. They spoke about the loneliness of travelling, leaving behind their families, their support networks and their homes at one of the most painful moments in their life, and they spoke about stigma and shame where there should have been compassion and care. They told their stories for a simple reason: so that what happened to them would not happen again. Eight years ago, Ireland listened to those women and voted to repeal the eighth.
Three years ago, the Marie O'Shea report was published - a report which was baked into the initial legislation and commissioned by the Government. This report found that the law is not working as it should. It recommended clear, practical changes, including removing the mandatory three-day waiting period, ending the criminalisation of doctors and providing clarity so that women facing fatal foetal diagnoses can access care here at home, but since then little has changed.
Every year, approximately 240 women are still forced to travel to the UK to access abortion care. Many of those women are travelling because they have received a devastating diagnosis, often after their 20-week scan, such as Denise Whitmore, whose story I raised with the Taoiseach a few weeks ago. We cannot ask women to share their stories over and over again and not take action. We cannot stand over a system that continues to send women abroad at their most vulnerable moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28