Time for leadership

Richard Boyd Barrett’s address to the Dáil yesterday morning was moving and powerful. He spoke about his daughter Ella, who was born with fatal foetal abnormalities and who would now be a teenager had she survived.

“She would be 13 this spring,” he said.

“It was a beautiful spring day exactly like today when we had to bury her. And myself and her mother and her two brothers think about her every day.”

Mr Boyd Barrett and his family are not alone: Tens of thousands of Irish families have faced similar tragedies.

He was speaking during a debate on legislation to provide for abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality where a foetus cannot survive outside the womb.

It is understandable, if regrettable, that our legislation on abortion is as it is but, no matter what a person’s beliefs are, it is hard to think that anyone would wish to impose cruelties inflicted on the myriad families who suffered as Mr Boyd Barrett and his family did.

It undermines the integrity of our political system that our parliament has not got the courage to deal with these matters.