I repeat my request to the Leader that we have a debate on the draft heads of the legislation on abortion produced by the Government. The other House should debate it also.

The more I read the heads of this Bill the more I feel this is a really dark day. The Government is proposing something dangerous and destructive. I am very disappointed that our Taoiseach has led us to this point. His advisers and some of his Ministers have cooked up an unworthy political compromise on a life and death issue. The lines coming from the Government about this being restrictive and life-saving and necessary to implement a law that is already there are simply not true. This is about opening the door to abortion and not just by a chink. Under pressure, particularly from the Labour Party, the Taoiseach and his Government have ignored the tide of medical evidence against legislating on the grounds of suicide, not to mention the deep concerns expressed by more than 100 psychiatrists who appear to represent the overwhelming majority of their profession. It appears the hearings held by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children last January were just a charade not because of what was said at them which decisively rejected the notion of abortion as evidence-based treatment for suicide-----

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

Yes. My question is whether we can have this debate. These hearings were completely ignored and if we have more committee meetings they will be a charade as well. It is part of the careful choreographing of this issue. People are not equal members at committees, as is well known. This is a life and death issue that should be debated in each of these Houses. The Order of Business is not the moment to go through the really noxious and sinister aspects of this Bill which are certainly there. I will not propose an amendment to the Order of Business today because my colleagues deserve an opportunity to read the heads of the Bill and to see how awful some aspects of this proposed Bill are. I will, however, propose amendments to the Order of Business next week. The Taoiseach should be accountable to the Houses on such a fundamental issue. It is important that the Minister for Health and Children would go before both Houses and that each House would have an opportunity to debate this. We must not be herded and stage-managed. That is what has been happening all along on this issue. It is really unworthy of the Government to have done it in this way. Further hearings by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children will only add to that. I say that with great respect to the Chairman and the other members but we cannot have a proper debate if the committee hearings are used to manage the flow of information and the presentation of this Bill.