Five years on from the historic referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, many women accessing abortion services continue to suffer abhorrent abuse outside GP clinics and hospitals, including women who are enduring abuse from protesters outside the National Maternity Hospital just down the road from here, so I welcome the Government announcement today of the legislation on safe access zones. This law is long overdue and, indeed, a Private Members’ Bill on this was first mooted back in 2021. I hope we will see swift movement on this Bill. I ask for a timeline for its passage into law and, further, ask for a timeline for implementation of the other reforms to abortion law as laid out and recommended in Marie O'Shea's independent review. I note that review has been referred to the Committee on Health but will the Taoiseach say when we are likely to see legislation to address the unnecessary structural obstacles that still face so many women? We note that 860 women have had to travel to England for abortion services since 2018.

The legislation on the safe access zones was approved by the Cabinet today, so it should be published in the next couple of days. I cannot tell the Deputy what the timeline is as that will depend on the business of the House and also the business of the Seanad. I think there will be opposition to it so it is difficult to say how long it will take to get through the Seanad and the Dáil. I certainly expect to have that legislation enacted by the end of the year.

In regard to the O'Shea report, the Government has not made any decisions on that yet. I appreciate Deputy Bríd Smith's Private Members’ Bill is in committee but the Government has not made any decisions on our own legislation in that regard. While I acknowledge there are hundreds of women who still travel to the UK for terminations, they do so for all sorts of different reasons. The decision we made when people voted “Yes” in the referendum was that there would be abortion on request up to 12 weeks.

I know some people want to change that. That is a matter of opinion. There are also issues around disability, which is not grounds here but may be in other states.