I call Deputy Coppinger on behalf of her group.

Yesterday, work by the artist Maser was removed from the Project Arts Centre building in Dublin. It is the second time this art has had to be removed. The cause for concern is that it was done under threat of loss of funding from a State body on the grounds that it was political. This country has an inglorious record of censorship, both artistic and political, and this Parliament should be clear: a piece of art was removed from an arts building in 2018, in a ruling more reminiscent of the Committee on Evil Literature of the 1920s. George Orwell stated "The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude." Is it also the Taoiseach's belief that art should not argue for social change and that charities should not either? The assertion by the chief executive officer, CEO, of the Charities Regulator that a mural with the words "Repeal the 8th" with a heart around them is outside the brief of an arts centre is a subjective one by the CEO himself, someone who has a long connection with the Catholic Church and a history of writing Catholic texts. Will the Taoiseach investigate and review this decision - including how the mural came under orchestrated attack with all the complaints being lodged on one day - and send a message that we have broken with Ireland of the past or are we back to the old days of de Valera, when the arts had to keep to the holiest traditions?

What was wrong with de Valera?

Or the Catholic Church.

How does the Taoiseach feel that the director of the Project Arts Centre had to physically paint over the work of a respected and innovative artist or face financial ruin? This means the dependency of charities and non-governmental organisations, NGOs, on public funds can render them absolutely toothless. The arts centre does not have the funds to mount a legal challenge in the courts. What many people are commenting on-----

The campaign to repeal the eighth might give you a bit of money.

Deputy, please.

-----is a remarkable double standard whereby the Catholic Church is an active agent in the referendum yet religious bodies do not have to register with the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, for example, as secular groups do.

What about Amnesty?

Deputy McGrath, behave yourself.

I note I am being shouted down and censored by people who do not agree with me while I speak in the Parliament. Many religious organisations are also listed on the register of charities published by the regulator but it seems they are perfectly free to use their buildings to propagate an anti-repeal position. The irony of this is that there is a proliferation of "No" posters, which are not only offensive and upsetting and which demonise women and make them invisible but are also blatantly scientifically inaccurate.

The Deputy does not like the truth.

No one is advocating that these posters be removed, although it would be good if the Referendum Commission challenged on a factual basis all claims by all sides. However, people are wondering why it is the most important thing to take down the Maser mural and leave this stuff up, unchallenged by the State.

Go raibh maith agat. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

Every Irish writer and artist of note has been banned in this country. I believe the Maser mural will actually be more popular as a result of this and the message young people should take from this-----

Go raibh maith agat. Tá an t-am caite.

-----is to use the mural in the referendum to win a vote for repeal.

I understand this decision was made by the Charities Regulator, not the Government, and I assume the Charities Regulator would have taken the same approach or attitude had it been a pro-life or anti-abortion mural. I have no doubt but that the mural will appear elsewhere. Someone who owns a private building may wish to make the space available for the mural to be reinstated. Perhaps even the fact that it has been removed means more people saw it than might have otherwise seen it had it not been removed. While one can paint over a mural, one certainly cannot paint over an issue. The issue is that nine women every day in Ireland are forced to travel overseas to end their pregnancies and three women in Ireland every day - the number will only rise into the future - import pills online and take them without medical supervision and guidance, often in their own homes. What we are putting to the people on 25 May is an opportunity to change this, to stop turning a blind eye, to stop turning a cold shoulder, to face up to the reality of abortion in Ireland and to change our Constitution in order that we can provide those services that many women need in our own country.

I hope the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will defend my right to speak in the Dáil and not be shouted down-----

I always defend the rights of every Member.

-----by a group of male Deputies who can never actually be pregnant.

I defend the rights of every Member.

What does it say about this country that women can be accused of being killers and that posters can go up about a licence to kill and of foetuses that are able to speak? The Dáil and the Minister for Health should set the record straight. For example, a foetus at nine weeks is 0.9 of an inch and at 12 weeks is 2.13 of an inch. It says something about the fear of the Irish establishment in this country that it has allowed these laws to completely narrow political expression and political art in this way. We had a situation in the Dáil where a group of Deputies wore repeal jumpers and in jig time the committee ruled out the wearing of any political slogans. What do the Taoiseach and others think is so offensive about this image I am holding that it should be banned by a State body?

Deputy-----

Does the Taoiseach agree that we should challenge this-----

Deputy Coppinger-----

-----and we should say there is nothing wrong with the image of a heart that calls for repeal-----

This is a deliberate act.

-----and there is nothing-----

This is terrible.

We should not allow political censorship.

Deputy Coppinger asked me to ensure I implement the Standing Orders and I ask her and her group to do the same.

It is against censorship.

Does the Deputy think that helps the campaign?

The Deputy cannot do that and she knows it is wrong to do it.

Stupid stunts like that do nothing to inform people.

The Tánaiste has not helped the campaign much in here himself.

The Deputy is above the law, like Amnesty.

Deputy McGrath-----

And the Minister, Deputy Harris, goes out with them.

I may have to take action.

It is a farce.

I am advised that on receipt of complaints made to the Charities Regulator about Project Arts Centre property, it indicated to the trustees of the Project Arts Centre that the continued display of this mural would, in its opinion, constitute a political advertisement in respect of a matter for which the charity was not set up. As I said earlier, I assume the Charities Regulator would have taken the same approach had it been an anti-abortion or pro-life mural relating to the forthcoming referendum. I want to emphasise that the authority is independent in carrying out its functions and in making any decisions on taking enforcement matters with respect to these issues.

My personal point of view is that I do not find the mural in any way offensive, but I do not think it is murals or posters that will change people's minds or convince people on this issue.

They have in the past.

What we need is proper independent information, like we are getting now from the Referendum Commission, which just started its work in recent days, and those of us who wish to advocate change going out there and speaking to people one to one, not berating them or preaching to them but listening to their concerns and answering their questions.