Following on from what Senator Jimmy Harte said - reasonably - I would like to say a few words on the interview that I am sure we all saw last night. I had not intended to speak on this subject but was so greatly moved by the dignity, composure and solemn grief of Mr. Halappanavar that I feel bound to say something. Two points, in particular, made by Mr. Halappanavar really struck home. He reiterated that when his wife was desperately, mortally ill and when both begged that the procedure that might have saved her life be carried out, they were told this was a Catholic country. Once again, it is deeply offensive that the preservation of some kind of abstract system should be put ahead of the life of a living human being, wife, daughter and sister. It is shocking. Mr. Halappanavar spoke of the bigger life. That is a very simple concept, but it is telling.

Some years ago citizens were misled into voting as they did in a referendum that I considered was wrong at the time. It is wrong to second-guess the people, but they were misled. I remember saying in this House that I found it profoundly shocking that the same right to life would be given to the fertilised ovum as to a fully developed human being who might be a wife, mother, sister or daughter. What are the people in question - principally men, including men in churches and celibate men in the case of one church - thinking of when they put the same value on a tiny organism with potential, for which I would have respect, as on people of realised potential? As somebody who is strongly pro-life - I want this to echo in the Chamber - I recognise that there are circumstances such as those we have just witnessed in which, sadly, the question of abortion must be raised and faced. We have failed significantly to face it. It is wrong that the language should be taken over. Who are the "unborn"? It is like the "undead" or being non-Catholic in this country. I feel very strongly about this issue. From where did this come? It came from a group that was strongly motivated. I am sure the group's members' motivations were, in their own minds, very good, but they are featuring again. What is the Iona Institute? What is its background? How is it funded? From where do its members come? Are they elected?

Is the Senator seeking a debate on the issue?

Perhaps the Minister for Justice and Equality or another Government spokesperson with seniority such as the Minister for Health might come to the House to answer some of these questions.

A group which I believe is entitled Oireachtas Members for Human Dignity has been established. We are all for human dignity, although we take different views on it. After I left this Chamber yesterday, I was watching the monitor in my office and heard one of my colleagues refer to a very distinguished professor as being "pro-abortion". I do not know of anybody who is pro-abortion as such, but there are those who are realistic. It is clear to me from evidence that the people, their President, the Independent Members and the smaller parties in the Houses are well ahead of the Government in this area.

As a victim of a bogus website set up by the kinds of people to whom I refer during a recent election campaign, I call on those who are responsible and the makers of unsolicited telephone calls purporting to come from Galway hospital to desist at once. Who knows who may be picking up the telephone? It could be somebody who has had a miscarriage, an elderly person or somebody who is emotionally unstable. I ask those responsible to stop.