I thought long and hard before coming here to speak tonight. I speak as the brother of eight sisters, the son of a mother, the husband of a wife and the father of a daughter. I see it has gone viral already that while my colleague, Senator Kelleher, was speaking, I tried to shut her up.

I do not know anyone in the world who is not pro-life. Every single one of us cherishes life and cherishes the lives that come into this world. We had a debate here some time ago on an RTÉ documentary about mother and baby homes. The following morning, a woman - a girl I knew growing up - rang me. I had known that she had been pregnant as a teenager and that she had left Galway to have her child in peace and quiet. I thought she had gone to a family; that is what we were told at the time. This girl did not go to a family, however; she went to one of these homes. I have spoken to her many times since that documentary and the pain, hurt and sense of betrayal and injustice that comes from that woman is heartbreaking to listen to. Then this debate on the repeal of the eighth amendment started. As someone with a constitutionally established position in the Seanad, I support the right of the Constitution to determine where we go in this country. Therefore, I support the right of the people to have a vote on repealing the eighth amendment. The people will decide what way that goes.

Since it was announced, I have been inundated with messages, whether text messages, via Twitter and Facebook, and on postcards. One thing that shocks me is that the majority of them come from men, the same men who made these girls pregnant years ago and deserted them the moment they became pregnant. They left the unborn child to be carried to birth, such as that poor girl who had to hand up their child and have it exported to the United States or handed over to someone else for adoption. They are the same men who live respectable lives today as professionals, farmers, teachers, doctors or whatever, who abandoned their own children and the girls they got pregnant, had them branded as some sort of harlot in the town, and walked away, still respectable.

Why do I stand here today? I support the referendum and the right of the people to make the decision they wish to make. I stand here because my colleague, Senator Catherine Noone, got an unmerciful time on social media over recent days. To these clowns who send me and others messages - they are on both sides - and to people who exploit photographs of foetuses in an effort to drive home a message, I say, "Do not send them to me". The woman who works in my office does make decisions and she does not deserve that.

Hear, hear.

The same applies to people on the pro-choice side. Do not send me messages. I am an old fella of 64 years, and I can make up my own mind. If I need advice, I will talk to the women I love and they will help me. It breaks my heart when I think of some of the girls I knew growing up who had children. Once they had a child, they were called a whore because they were not married. Let us get real here. As my colleague, Senator Buttimer, said, and I do not always agree with him, let us deal with this in a respectful way. Let us have a respectful, calm debate. I do not want people from the United States contacting me or trying to degrade or denigrate one of my colleagues here.

Hear, hear.

We will make our own choice in our own way. It is painful to make the choice. It is not easy on anybody on any side, but let us make it in our own way. Let us talk to the people we trust and love. To the men who support either side, I have great news - they will never be pregnant and they will never have to make the decision.

When I was growing up, I knew one man who, as far as I knew, was so conservative it was not funny. His daughter got pregnant and the big discussion at the time was how they would tell her father. She was living outside the country and had to come home. I spoke to some people afterwards. The father had copped on that there was something going on in the kitchen and walked in and asked what was happening. They told him they would tell him later, so he asked again what was going on and for them to tell him. Someone told him she was pregnant and he told them, "Bring her home". I knew that man and I know what he went through bringing her home because he was about as conservative as one could meet.

Let us stop the filth and be respectful of human beings on all sides. I plead with people to deal with this as my colleague, Senator Noone, dealt with it as Chairman of the committee and as Senator Rónán Mullen does in his way on his side of the argument. I may not agree with either of them but I respect the right of both of them to talk about how they feel and the rest of the country ought to do likewise.

I was at a function at the weekend and a person at my table asked about the position on the eighth amendment. The answer was that that was not the appropriate place to discuss the matter.

I have no idea what is coming after the amendment or referendum, although I would like to know. As a man, I will never have to make that choice but my daughter and two granddaughters may, so, God damn it, I do not want to do the wrong thing. I want to let the referendum do its thing and we can then discuss how we will deal with it. I deeply respect those who have put their opinions before the community.