Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said opposition to her abortion law reform legislation, from the Health Minister and Sinn Féin, is shocking and disappointing.
Deputy Cairns said:
“There are clear gaps in the abortion law that was introduced following the Repeal referendum which are having a negative impact on women.
“That is not my opinion. That is the conclusion of an expert review of that law, commissioned by the government, and published three years ago.
“That review found that women who receive a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality are still being denied compassionate care in this country; that the mandatory three-day wait period was a barrier to care; and that the criminalisation of doctors was resulting in risk averse and overly cautious decision making.
“The government has sat on its hands, while that expert report gathered dust, and has failed to enact a single legislative amendment to the existing legislation. My Bill was an attempt to change that – and improve care for women.
“However, in the Dáil today, the Minister, who said she sympathised with the intent of my legislation, said that she was unable to support any aspect of it – something I found truly extraordinary.
“This is, in effect, the Health Minister, for the first time, acknowledging that the government intends to ignore the recommendations of its own expert report when it comes to amending our existing abortion law.
“Instead of agreeing to work with me, to further examine and analyse my legislation in detail at the Oireachtas Health Committee, she invited me to debate aspects of my Bill ‘in another chamber’. As legislators, the chambers we should be debating legislation in is the Dáil or Oireachtas committees.
“The Health Minister’s disappointing contribution was then followed by a shocking contribution from Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane, who claimed my legislation lacked ‘democratic legitimacy’.
“This was an outrageous and spurious attack on legislation, which is based on an expert analysis of the existing law – and aims to deliver on the promises that were made to women, during the Repeal campaign, that they would not have to travel abroad for compassionate care.
“People who fought for Repeal will be stunned at the dismissive approach Sinn Féin has taken to my Bill. It is clear that the party is using legislation it introduced in a hurry last week, to remove the mandatory three-day wait period, as a pretext to justify their lack of support for the Bill.
“It is disappointing and deeply regrettable that both the government and Sinn Féin are apparently refusing to support this legislation’s passage to committee stage – where it could undergo pre-legislative scrutiny and where amendments could be made to improve the legislation.
“This failure to act will result in women continuing to be failed and continuing to be exported, far from their support networks, for medical care.”
May 13, 2026