Six minors under the care of the State have been taken to the UK for abortions, it has emerged as the debate over the abortion Bill continued in the Dail.  

Fine Gael TD, Michael Creed, speaking in support of the Government’s abortion legislation, referred to an answer given by Health Minister James Reilly to a question by Billy Timmins about the number of girls taken to the UK due to suicidal ideation.

Mr Creed, citing the Minister’s reply, said that six minors who were in State care “were assisted in travelling abroad for abortions since 1992”.

The HSE said that it had acted “within the legislation and in the best interests of the children involved in all cases”.

In the debate, Mr Creed said that would be supporting the Bill, but that he regretted “the attempt to demonise one side of the debate based on the actions of a small minority”.  

He said: “I have been the subject of quite a good deal of representation – it was ongoing up to this very day – on the matter. I would say that 99pc of it has been respectful and conveyed in an appropriate manner.”

Mr Timmins, also speaking in the debate, said that he would oppose the Bill on the basis that sections 9 and 22(4) required him “to legalise the intentional destruction of unborn human life where there is a real and substantive risk of loss of a woman’s life by way of suicide”.  

This was in spite of the fact that “almost 100pc of medical practitioners have given evidence that abortion is not a treatment for suicide,” he said.

He said that he had heard many speeches on human rights as a TD, but added that the Government’s legislation “proposes to violate the most basic human right, namely, the right to life, of the most vulnerable section of our society, unborn citizens”.  

He said: “Whether one is a Catholic, Hindu, an atheist or Jewish, the core issue is the same. If the Bill was run through a computer programme, it would fail to pass. It is built on sand and history will show that to be the case.”

Independent TD Mattie McGrath, also opposing the Bill, called it “one of the most misleadingly titled Bills that has ever come before this House”.

He also attacked Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain, accusing him lecturing other TDs “about betraying the republic because some of us hold a different perception of what the constitutional protection of the unborn means in practice”.  

He said: “Neither the Deputy nor his party is in any position to lecture the rest of us about distorting this debate when he himself has stated how he felt it necessary to deceive people about the intentions of the Bill in order to gain time for a more liberal regime. This statement has been recorded, whether covertly or otherwise.”  

Describing the Bill as “deeply coercive and unworkable” Deputy McGrath said that the Government had “decided to ignore the testimony of those psychiatrists and legal experts who have demonstrated such a provision is contrary to the best medical and legal practice”.  

In his speech, Mr O Riordain called for a referendum to widen the grounds for abortion, by removing Article 40.3.3.

He said: “I implore the Minister for Health to regard this Bill as the beginning of a discussion on a new constitutional amendment which would remove Article 40.3.3°.

“When people from other jurisdictions are told that our debate is about situations where a woman’s life is the risk, they are given to wonder whether this Republic is still in the dark ages. We must revisit the Constitution in order to provide for those women whose health may be threatened by pregnancy.”

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that he would be supporting the Bill. He indicated that his “strongly held view” was opposition to abortion, but he said he was “not here to legislate for me, especially not on this issue”.  

“Like other Members of the Oireachtas, I have a duty and responsibility to legislate for citizens, in this case pregnant women whose lives are at risk”.  

Meanwhile, Education Minister Ruiari Quinn said that the Bill “will not be compulsory when enacted”.  

“People who abhor abortion in any form whatsoever will not be compelled to avail of its provisions,” he said.

Fianna Fáil Justice spokesperson Willie O’Dea indicated that he would be opposing the Bill, saying he opposed a liberal abortion regime, and he rejected the suggestion that such a stance was “hypocritical”.

He said “[M]any practices that are banned under Irish criminal law are legal elsewhere. Irish people have the right to travel out of the country to places where such practices are legal. Does that mean we should legalise all these practices in Ireland? That is the logical outcome of arguing that those who do not want a liberal abortion regime in this country are hypocrites.”