Health Secretary Stephen Donnelly said he hopes the second phase of a bill aimed at curbing protests against health facilities offering abortion services will be presented to the Dáil next week, reports RTE.
Previously, Mr Donnelly had presented the legislation to Cabinet.
The Safe Entry Zones Act prohibits anyone from attempting to obstruct entry into a health facility offering abortion services or to influence the decisions of anyone within 100m of the entrance.
These include general practitioner offices, maternity hospitals and family planning clinics.
The Multiple Violations Act provides for fines of up to 2,500 euros or imprisonment for up to six months.
However, Mr Donnelly said such a situation was foreseen in the proposed law, reports RTE.
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Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Donnelly said: “I’m hoping to have the second stage of this Bill in the Dáil next week. I want to move on this quickly. It’s something that has been promised for some time. There are two core prohibitions. The first is that it will not be lawful for people to attempt to impede anybody’s access to these facilities. The second is that it will not be lawful for people to attempt to influence the decision of people seeking to access these services,” reports RTE.
In the meantime, Tánaiste Micheál Martin was due to brief Cabinet on a public participation process to develop a new design for Irish passports.
The Foreign Office is about to embark on a project to redesign the Irish passport to include the latest security features and highlight Irish culture.
The current passport is ten years old and the International Civil Aviation Authority recommends updating the documents regularly to include new, improved security features, reports RTE.
Since its introduction in 2013, the existing Irish passport has been recognized as a highly trusted and secure travel document.
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