Seanad report:Government members clashed strongly over funding for a body which deals with crisis pregnancies.
Fiona O'Malley (PD) referred to "the difficulty" that the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) was encountering in getting Cura, the Catholic counselling agency, to honour its service agreement to provide non-judgmental information.
It was an absolute scandal that Cura was continuing to get public monies, Ms O'Malley said. She added that she wanted the Minister for Health to come in to the House and explain why she had not been able to get this matter cleared up and why public money was being used "for a certain prejudice".
Maria Corrigan (FF) said she disagreed with Ms O'Malley over what she had said about Cura. It would be absolutely outrageous if that body was not getting public funds in view of the fact that the goal of the CPA was to provide positive options in relation to unwanted pregnancies. Cura should in fact receive extra State funding to enable it to continue its valuable work. People approaching it were aware of the advice that it offered. In a truly pluralist society, we had to have the capacity to reflect all available options, she said.
Ivana Bacik (Ind) said there was concern that Cura was not co-operating with CPA policy and that it was not providing women in crisis pregnancies with all the options that could be availed of. She would be concerned that such a body was getting State funds.
John Hanafin (FF) said there was a particular type of Irish liberal who was intolerant of everyone else's view. People who had supported the Dunnes Stores workers over their refusal to handle South African produce could not see their way to back those who had a conscientious objection to giving out information on abortion. "It is wrong that the State is not supporting Cura, which supports both the mother and child."
Jim Walsh (FF) said a recent television programme had shown aborted foetuses "with hands and fingers and so on. It showed the heinous nature of abortion." If Senators O'Malley and Bacik watched that programme, it would change their views on the issue.
Ronan Mullen (Ind) said that in the light of the TV programme that had been referred to, the debate they needed to have, perhaps in the presence of the Minister for Education, should be on how they could promote a comprehensive respect for life in this State. There was increasing disquiet in Britain about abortion and how it was taking place. Even abortion practitioners were saying that culture was "copping out morally" and that society required of them things with which they were increasingly uncomfortable.
Seanad leader Donie Cassidy (FF) said he would examine how a debate could be facilitated on the matter. He understood that Cura had received more than €600,000 from the Government last year.
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If we did not work to close the cost gap between ourselves and the rest of the world, potential investors would look elsewhere and we might as well disband the IDA because it would never be able to do its job, Feargal Quinn (Ind) warned. He was speaking on the role of the Government and the IDA in promoting Ireland as a location for investment.