When the Taoiseach spoke at last night's press conference, he showed leadership and spoke for all of us who want to see the eighth amendment repealed. I thank the Taoiseach most sincerely for that.

Today is a momentous day for Irish women and society. The insertion of the eighth amendment into the Constitution was a grave wrong perpetrated on women. My colleague, Deputy McDonald, said it best when she said the eighth amendment was in effect a constitutional coup and the reactionary codification of the suppression of women.

There are those who have never stopped campaigning against the eighth amendment. They have been campaigning since 1983. Some, like my parents and people in this Chamber, were campaigning beforehand to ensure it did not get in there in the first place. They have been joined by many young people and the protests have not gone away. Indeed, the Taoiseach will be aware that the protests have intensified, from the blog posts and articles to the lobby emails, meetings at constituency clinics, tweets, online campaigns, the difficult conversations and the easy ones, right up to the marches and protests. We would never have arrived at this point without their courage and activism. In many ways, today is their day.

I must also offer thanks again to the work of the Citizens' Assembly and my Oireachtas colleagues on the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The findings, as expressed by them, left no option but to proceed to call a referendum on the issue. It now falls to those of us who want to see that change and see the eighth amendment banished as a relic of the past to join together, stay strong and campaign as one to see the eighth amendment gone.

I welcome the confirmation that the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health will campaign for repeal. Likewise, Sinn Féin and I will be on that campaign trail. It behoves those of us politicians who believe in repeal to campaign for the change we really want to see. That is what politics is about. It is about real political leadership. We repealers must be prepared to debate, campaign, canvass and be respectful, even when that respect is not always evident. We must use the facts and speak to the people, who I firmly believe are ready for this change. Those of us who support repeal must come together and be unified in our campaign. Perhaps to demonstrate that, I am offering to pop over to Dublin West, where the Taoiseach and I, along with Deputy Coppinger, Deputy Burton and councillors from all parties, can come together and knock on a few doors. Perhaps the Taoiseach might join me in Fingal to do the same.

I would like to ask the Taoiseach to commit to publishing in full the advice of the Attorney General. The decision to repeal and have an enabling clause in the Constitution for the Oireachtas to legislate was not endorsed by the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I believe it is necessary for all politicians and the public to be fully informed on this matter. Will the Taoiseach state his commitment to holding that referendum before the end of May to facilitate students and young people being allowed to vote?

I thank Deputy O'Reilly for her opening remarks, which were very generous. I echo the sentiments she expressed concerning the important work of the Citizens' Assembly of just under 100 randomly selected citizens who studied this topic weekend in and weekend out and came to the conclusions they did, as well as the work of the all-party committee and all its members who studied the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly and made further recommendations to Government. I agree with the Deputy that for those who agitated for reform going back over the past 20 or 30 years, if not before that, this is their day.

This is now a matter for the Irish people. It is in their hands and it is right that they should be asked this question. When it was last asked, I was under four years old. Nobody aged under 52 years has had a vote on the issue of Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution and it is appropriate that people be allowed to have this vote. I appeal to Members, even those who do not agree with repealing the eighth amendment, to vote for the referendum Bill and at least allow other citizens to make a decision for themselves.

I will say only two things about the campaign and debate we will have in the next few months. It should be respectful of all sides and it should never be personalised. I agree with the Deputy that even when people are not respectful towards us or personalise the debate, we should not respond.

To answer the Deputy's question, the Minister for Health will today publish what is called a précis paper. This is a summary of the Attorney General's legal advice and an explanation of the rationale behind his advice. This is somewhat unprecedented, although something similar was done in 1983. As the Deputy is aware, legal advice is privileged for very good reasons. However, we are happy to make an exception on this occasion and publish the précis paper. The Minister for Health will also hold a briefing for Opposition leaders and spokespersons at 4 p.m.

I affirm my commitment to holding the referendum before the end of May to maximise participation. I must add a caveat, however, by stating the obvious fact that I do not command a majority in this House and we no longer use the guillotine except by agreement of the Business Committee. With the co-operation of the House, we can certainly have this done by the end of May. We are already making preliminary moves to establish a referendum commission in order that it is in place on time.

I assure the Taoiseach that Sinn Féin will co-operate fully with the Department of Health to ensure the legislation is processed as soon as possible. I reiterate my call to publish the full advice of the Attorney General. I do so because this is one of the recommendations that the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution did not endorse. The committee received its own legal advice, which seems to be at odds with the advice available to the Government. All the information should be placed in the public domain. Deputies have called for a fact-based campaign and we have all stated we will rely on the facts. It is essential for transparency that Deputies have the advice of the Attorney General in full. It will enable us, when knocking on doors either separately, together or however it happens, to have the full facts and to explain to people who know they are about to make a momentous decision and want to be informed of all the facts.

As the Deputy knows, legal advice and the advice of the Attorney General to the Government are privileged and it is not the norm - it is in fact somewhat unprecedented - to produce legal advice. Legal advice inevitably argues from a position of "on the one hand, on the other hand" and gives different sets of opinions. The advice we will publish today is a summary of the advice of the Attorney General. It sets out his conclusions in a detailed paper that explains exactly why we are proposing that an enabling provision be added to the Constitution. To put the matter simply, if we only repeal the eighth amendment or Article 40.3.3°, we go back to where we were in 1982 when it was argued that there were unenumerated rights of the unborn and there may have been a pre-existing right to life of the unborn. There is also a possibility that courts could find in future that the foetus or unborn child is a child, in which case children's rights would apply, or is a citizen or has a right to be a citizen, in which case citizens' rights would apply.

We do not want to be in a situation where the majority of the people vote to repeal the eighth amendment only to find out that it has no effect, and that there is still a ban on abortion in our Constitution. That is why it is proposed to insert a very simple enabling provision clarifying that the Oireachtas may legislate for the regulation of the termination of pregnancies. That, however, does not mean that there is any barrier on recourse to the courts or judicial review.