I am not a member of the joint committee and others Senators will have engaged with this matter much more than I have. I wonder about it at a human level, however, because I imagine there are people who would rather not have to get into all the specifics. I certainly know of families where a person is quite clear who he or she would want to make the necessary decisions for him or her when those decisions have to be made. I wonder whether sufficient account is being taken of that human dimension where people would r…

I wish to speak on the section. It will take a few minutes. I am opposing section 73 of the Bill, which amends section 85 of the 2015 Act. That section, as it stands, allows for consideration of the interests of unborn children in a very rare set of circumstances. In summary, the existing section 85(6)(a) provides that where a woman lacks capacity and is pregnant but her AHD does not specifically envisage what should be done if she were pregnant, medical professionals should presume that treatment should be provide…

Cé mhéad ama atá agam? Six minutes. As I was listening to Senator Buttimer, I thought "Oh my God, not another citizens' assembly." It seems to me that the Government reaches for a citizens' assembly every time it does not have the answer to a complex problem and every time it wants to hide behind people rather than take responsibility. The Oireachtas is the first and foremost citizens' assembly. I am all in favour of citizens' assemblies to consult and to take the temperature of public opinion. That is all well and…

The test is whether there is a human dignity-led approach to policy and legislation across the board and whether attention is being paid always to the most vulnerable in our society. There is a protest taking place on the quad in my alma mater, which has now been renamed the University of Galway, at 6 p.m. this evening. I commend those who are keeping the real issues on the agenda. It is not going to be possible to provide free GP care for an additional 400,000 people. In my view, people earning between €20,000 and…

Drink from.

I came across some very wise words in recent days. I will read the quotation: It is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery. They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint. [...] Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle but a…

I will finish with this. I refer to the use of the quotation "trans rights are human rights". I am sure I agree with that if I could be sure what it fully means. I hear it used almost with the same frequency that politicians fob in at Leinster House. I worry that we must not just seek political success through the use of slogans. We have to try to interrogate the issues carefully-----

-----to interrogate the issues carefully-----

I will just finish my last sentence to all sides. We need to interrogate the issues with care and compassion with a search for truth and seek to distinguish between the things that are inalienable human rights and those that are claims that may be contestable or that may be subject to debate. That is our role in here, not the constant repetition of phrases which cause more confusion than clarity.

It is certainly the most unusual, I suspect.

I also welcome the ambassador, H.E. Karen Van Vlierberge. Although I do not normally speak in any way in support of a drink culture in this country, if there is anything she can do to increase the supply of Westvleteren beer coming into this country, she would be doing us all a service. That is a beer that is made by Trappist monks about an hour and a half from Brussels, but only in such small quantities as allow them to continue their business. They say they make beer in order to be monks, not the other way around…

I hate to start on a note like that because I do now have to talk about a very sad topic. I listened to the report about the HSE report into abortion as part of the three-year review yesterday on RTÉ and I thought it was tragically tendentious and horribly biased. There was no talk of whether women who chose not to go through with abortions after the initial consultation were interviewed. There was no talk about the report that doctors are disturbed that in the case of late-term abortions, there are children who re…

He has been irresponsible and reckless in this area. I call for change and debate in respect of this matter in the next term.

Have I?

May I speak now?

I move amendment No. 1a: In page 8, line 43, after “Council” to insert “, pursuant to section 37A of the Act of 1998”. I begin by thanking the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to present my amendments today. I found it quite frustrating that the hatch for submission of amendments closed almost as soon as Second Stage was concluded. Were it not for the Cathaoirleach's willingness to allow these amendments to come before the House, I would have been prevented from tabling them. That was on the back of a situation where …

Is this a point of order? Has the Senator been-----

Okay. I would prefer to not be obstructing on it. I think everybody in the House agrees with this if you talk to them about it privately, and the public is looking on. I want to pick up on something the Minister of State and Senator Dolan said in response to Senator Warfield's amendment. They invited him to continue the dialogue, as it were, with the Department of Education and said that consideration will be given to his thoughts and views. However, surely that is true of every citizen. At least I hope it is. What…

My apologies.

We have no choice.