A Sinn Féin TD has said the Government is failing women in this country.

Louise O’Reilly’s comments follow a highly charged debate on abortion in the Dáil last night.

Health minister Simon Harris said he could not accept a proposed bill which would allow for terminations in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.

However, he said he hoped there would be a referendum on the Eighth Amendment.

* If you can’t see the Facebook post, you can view it here.

Speaking on the proposed bill, Louise O’Reilly said too many women in this country are suffering in silence.

“What this legislation will do is give them one option to help them navigate one of the gravest, the most tragic and one of the most upsetting situations of their lives,” said O’Reilly.

“Let’s end the fear, the stigma, the taboo, the inadvertent shaming of these women and families.

“We should support those mothers and their partners who choose to bring to term a child that has no chance of survival outside the womb for long if that is their choice. Equally, we must support those who do not. That is the point of this bill.”