Seanad Report: It was dreadful that two women living in a "hidden Ireland" had felt it necessary to have back-street abortions, Ms Kathleen O'Meara (Lab) said.
Referring to reports that gardaí were investigating abortions involving foreign women, Ms O'Meara said she was appalled that refugees and asylum-seekers existing on €19-a-week and illegal workers who clearly felt that they could not leave this country, were now in what could only be described as a kind of hidden Ireland lacking in social protection to such an extent that they had felt it necessary to have illegal back-street abortions and put their health at such risk.
This was something which could not be ignored and which, as legislators, they needed to look at. "It is, to say the least, ironic that having passed a referendum, the argument for which was based on the so-called propensity of asylum-seekers and women from third countries to have babies in this country, that one of the first stories to emerge after that referendum is of the horrendous fact and reality of back-street abortions taking place in this country".
Mr David Norris (Ind) referred to the awful situation where at least two back-street abortions had been performed on people who were apparently part of the immigrant or asylum-seeking community. He thought that this had resulted partly from the "mean-spirited removal" of certain sections of this population from the operation of the social security services.
It should be drawn to the attention of the relevant authorities that if as a nation we were serious about respect for the right to life - they needed to tackle certain issues.
As things stood, employers were entitled not to renew the work permits of women once they had become pregnant. "I think that is shameful and I think that's the kind of pressure that leads to abortion. So if we're serious we should address this situation and make life easier for these unfortunate women."
Mr Ulick Burke (FG) said that prior to the last referendum on abortion, two years ago, they had been led to believe that substantial resources would be put in place to help people in crisis pregnancies.
Now, they had learned that at least two women - though probably many more unknown - had resorted to back-street abortions. This was another example of the failure to implement the promises, he said.