‘THERE ARE COMPLEX AND DIFFICULT ISSUES THAT MANY WOMEN HAVE TO DEAL WITH’
ON REPEALING THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT
Well, it’s a highly emotive issue and there are a lot of Irish women who have had to travel abroad to deal with crisis pregnancies so you can understand why, well actually on both sides of the argument, the very, very intense feelings and when you mix intense feelings with politics, they tend to get very emotive language, protests, marches; that’s how politics works now.
I was getting a burger at midnight the other night and I got almost verbally attacked by someone for 20 minutes who had a very, very conservative view in relation to pregnancy and abortion and unborn life. That’s the other side of it. People who feel that they’re ostracised and aren’t represented by government because they have conservative views.
I think most people are somewhere in the middle: they’re looking for a way of dealing in a more compassionate way with often very complex pregnancies but I think there’s also a strong view in Ireland that the State does have a responsibility to protect an unborn child and they want that in the Constitution, while at the same time recognising that there are extraordinarily complex and difficult issues that many women find themselves having to deal with through no fault of their own, with very complex pregnancies that threaten their health and their life and obviously the lives of their children.
I’ve always taken some of the human rights approach to it as I try to categorise in my mind what needs to be considered as a policy-maker. I do think the State has a responsibility to protect the unborn child but I also think the state has responsibilities towards women who find themselves in often very, very difficult and traumatic circumstances.
ON THE TUAM MOTHER AND BABY HOME
This is shining a spotlight on a time many people have closed the door on. They don’t want to open it again, just because it brings back awful memories. I think it also exposes an Ireland that none of us are very proud of.
Sometimes the best way of dealing with awfulness in the past is to tell the truth in a way that’s sensitive and dignified and I also think in some ways will allow some people to move on.
ON VOTE HARVESTING
A lot of politicians focus on vote harvesting all the time, that’s all they do. You’ve got to go to a match to be seen there because that’s where you can look for votes. You’ve got to go to a funeral to be seen.
ON GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE FREE MARKET IN GENERAL
I think that sometimes the State does both justify and need intervention because I think the free market is a great place if you’ve got plenty of money or if you know how to play that market, but it’s a very, very cruel place if you’re somebody who is vulnerable and doesn’t have the capacity to survive.
ON ENDA KENNY TRIGGERING A LEADERSHIP RACE
I don’t think on the day he returns he is going to trigger it, but I am very comfortable with trusting his judgment. He has said he won’t lead FG into the election. More recently he said that when he comes back after the St Patrick’s Day trip he will put a process in place that will manage an orderly transition.