Our open meeting is kicking off now! #TogetherForSafety

. @AnneCronin5 speaking now about her experience as someone who lives near the Maternity Hospital and who witnesses groups frequently protesting nearby - “I often think about how it must feel for women...having to face down this group before every getting into the hospital”

. @AnneCronin5 -“this is not a peaceful vigil. It is a way to invade women’s privacy during a vulnerable time...they (the protestors) don’t carry posters or shout...but they are every bit as intimidating”

First speaker, @JanOSullivanTD, member of the all party committee on the 8th committee now starting #TogetherForSafety

“My first political campaign was actually 1983 (original 8th amendment campaign). It was a baptism of fire” - @JanOSullivanTD

. @JanOSullivanTD speaking on the importance of expert testimony for changing minds and informing legislation, says she witnessed this first hand during the oireachtas committee

. @JanOSullivanTD saying that it is important to have this campaign up and running, because she had already heard discussion prior to repeal about rural GPs being concerned about protests occurring outside their clinics

. @JanOSullivanTD “it is important that we campaign now to ensure that this legislation is drafted. It is about balancing the right to protest...with the right of people to access their own healthcare” #TogetherForSafety

“The dept of health is incredibly busy right now, but the people who would be drafting this legislation would not be those working on covid...there is no reason why they could not be working on this and getting it moving” - @JanOSullivanTD

. @JanOSullivanTD Points out that protests affect not only those who are accessing abortion care, but also workers, and that the implementation of safety zones are a matter of urgency

. @JanOSullivanTD says that people should contact their TDs, and encourage them to ask questions re the implementation of safety zones. She also recommends contacting the Health Committee and ensure that safety zones remain on the agenda

“This is something that has been promised and it is the policy of pretty much every party...the positions that have been taken should ensure that we have enough people in the oireachtas who would be in favour of this” - @JanOSullivanTD

“We have evidence that if people know the human story...then we have a better chance of taking these matters seriously” - @JanOSullivanTD

Next speaking @maireadenright starting now!

. @maireadenright points out that language in PFG has changed from exclusion zones to safe access zones, demonstrates a change in thinking around the necessity for these areas around healthcare providers

. @maireadenright explaining that laws in other countries usually layout 1) the area that is covered by buffer zone/safe access zones and 2) what is excluded

. @maireadenright point out that prescribing specific behaviour ensures that motivation (eg whether the protestor regards their behaviour as intimidating) becomes irrelevant “it takes a lot of the guess work away”

. @maireadenright points out that these protests outside GP clinics may deter GPs from providing abortions, and as we rely so heavily on GPs in Ireland, this can end up resulting in a difficulty for women to access abortion care

. @maireadenright says that different local authorities have attempted to bring forward investigations into these protestors, but have been encouraged to wait for national legislation.

. @maireadenright says that she wishes that we didn’t need legislation for this, and that she wishes we didn’t have to rely on criminalisation (brings up feminist argument re abolition)

. @maireadenright brings up how telemedicine has positively affected abortion access, and that we still do not have full decriminalisation

. @maireadenright “we do have lots of laws on the books but they don’t deal with the more subtle forms...unless somebody loses their temper it’s quite difficult to get the law involved”.

. @maireadenright says that example of graphic imagery being allowed to remain up during repeal campaign demonstrates the inadequacy of current laws

. @maireadenright says that important factors to be considered in the law are the size of the buffer zone, the specific activities outlawed (points out that Aus definition is very broad), the permanency of the zone,+whether the protestors have an alternate to achieving their aim

. @maireadenright believes there is a space for feminist social movements to push for buffer zones as they can say “when we voted for repeal we voted for people to access their care in private...people making their protests on the steps of hospital goes against that right”

. @maireadenright asked if she prefers any specific country’s approach to buffer zones, says she thinks it’s important to look at a broad range of countries, she likes Aus use of “communication” as opposed to “protest” in legislation, but would prefer specific list of activities

. @JanOSullivanTD asked about impact of lack of women on govt committees, “there is a problem where women tend to be put on certain committees” and says the lack of women reflects the lack of women involved in the dail in general. Says she would favour a quota for committees

“There are so many things that are vying for attention, that women there aren’t women there, that women’s issues cannot get the attention they need and deserve” - @maireadenright

. @JanOSullivanTD concerned that if wording is perceived to be difficult to draft then it would be put on the back burner, and that it should be researched carefully

. @maireadenright asked about how we can minimise this conversation being used as a way to reopen the debate by anti choice groups, says she doesn’t believe that would be the tactic, but that instead they’d favour “freedom of speech argument”.

. @maireadenright said that when former Health minister Simon Harris originally announced interest in safety zones, anti choice groups had favoured this line, essentially saying issue is a freedom of speech issue and not connected to abortion.

. @JanOSullivanTD says that we must be absolute about the right to protest, but that she likes the Australian legislation stating that protestors do not have a right to a “captive audience”

. @maireadenright says that safety zones will not get rid of anti choice speech but instead outlines that protestors don’t have the right to a specific “captive audience”. “This is not an argument about censoring, but about the audiences right to withdraw”.

. @JanOSullivanTD says that one route would be to allow local authorities implement safety zones (that we do not have these laws unlike in the UK), but that she would prefer national legislation