Dáil statements on the Referendum on the Eighth Amendment have resumed. 

Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee described it as one of the proudest moments in the years she has been in the Dáil. 

Ms McEntee said it was a seismic shift and change for society and the women of Ireland.

Fianna Fáil's Spokesperson on Health Stephen Donnelly said Ireland took a giant leap forward last Friday. 

Mr Donnelly said many people deserved credit for the result. 

He acknowledged the women and men who shared their own stories, saying it was incredibly brave and powerful.

Sinn Fein's Spokesperson on Health Louise O'Reilly paid tribute to those who campaigned against the Eighth Amendment in 1983. 

She said they were right in 1983 and the referendum result vindicated their stance. 

Ms O'Reilly noted the evidence put forward by the Terminations for Medical Reasons at the Oireachtas Eighth Amendment Committee and the bravery of TFMR. 

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the Referendum was a "revolutionary upsurge", which was a long time coming.

He said it began when women were allowed into the workplace and into third-level education; reaching a point where they would no longer accept being second class citizens in their own country. 

"Critical to all of that was people power", he said.

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy said if Taoiseach Leo Varadkar thought there was a quiet revolution over the past number of years, he must have been wearing earplugs. 

Mr Murphy warned the Government and the Taoiseach that they will probably need the earplugs again because people will continue to fight for all the inequalities in society.

Labour's Jan O'Sullivan said that for her, the Eighth Amendment referendum was a full circle.

Her first campaign was in 1983 against the insertion of the Eighth Amendment into the Constitution.

She said Friday's referendum was broader than the issue of abortion, but about Ireland changing its culture and people in power not knowing better for Irish women.

Ms O'Sullivan told Minister for Health Simon Harris that he "played a blinder".

Independents4Change TD Joan Collins said it was a question of people vindicating what they said on the doorsteps.

Ms Collins said people voted on their life experiences.

She said those who voted No from a moral or religious conviction deserve respect, however she said it is necessary to differentiate those "from the forces behind the No campaign and the self-styled pro-life movement".

Ms Collins said the issue was about control and power.

"Maintaining their power to enforce their reactionary views on women and their power to impose the Catholic ethos on the State and its institutions".

Expert evidence 'changed people's minds'

Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton, who was a member of the Oireachtas Committee that considered the Eighth Amendment, said the referendum result was an acknowledgement of how informed debate changed society. 

The Galway West TD said it was about how the expert evidence given to the Citzens' Assembly and the Oireachtas Committee changed people's perceptions and minds. 

"It also shows what politicians can achieve when they leave their biases outside the door of a committee room and agree to do what's best for the women of Ireland, no matter how much that might conflict with a previously stated position", she said.

Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht said when the Taoiseach asked her on 29 March to be campaign co-ordinator for the Yes Fine Gael campaign, it was Holy Thursday. 

Josepha Madigan said she went to the Mount Merrion Parish for the Taizé prayers and the irony was not lost on her.

She said it was not an easy campaign but she tried and endeavoured to ensure the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party and members would come together and have a dignified, respectful debate, which she said was achieved in the main.

Ms Madigan said she did not feel the exhuberance that some people felt on Saturday, because there are compassionate people on the No side also. 

She described the result for her as "bittersweet". 

"Not everyone who voted Yes is pro-abortion, but they are pro-choice" she said.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath said people voted Yes to a Government proposal, which he said was a lost opportunity to a better way. 

Mr McGrath said it was difficult to see how the result could have gone any other way, under "an avalanche of misrepresentations and where the truth was buried".

He questioned where the voices of the three-quarters of a million No voters would now be heard.

He said there were efforts to shut down the "pro-life voice", which would not only be anti-democratic but a gross insult to the anti-abortion position. 

Mr McGrath said while he would not obstruct the bill, he would be placing amendments.

He said the No side was "down, but not out".

Meanwhile, Solidarity's Paul Murphy has raised the issue of "the need for access to abortion for people in the North as the need for that has been highlighted by the PSNI intervening in Belfast to confiscate abortion pills and a drone, which was to be used for the distribution of abortion pills by ROSA activists." 

He said his party colleague Ruth Coppinger is at the protest.

He added, "I would say to the authorities in the North, and to the established parties which have all opposed the extension of abortion rights, that sort of oppression will not work. Repression won't stop women that need to access abortion services from accessing pills through services like Women on Web.

"Repression won't stop activists fighting for abortion rights and like in the South, it won't stop a movement trying to achieve abortion rights."

Mr Murphy was referring to an attempt by pro-abortion campaigners to hand out abortion pills in Belfast today, which failed after the PSNI intervened during a protest outside the High Court.

After discussions between the pro-abortion organisers and the police the abortion pills and a drone which was to deliver them were handed over to the PSNI.

Several  of the campaigners swallowed abortion pills during the during the protest. One woman was spoken to by police but was not arrested. The anti-abortoin group Precious Life staged a counter demonstration during the pro-abortion rally.

Meanwhile,Tánaiste Simon Coveney said that Minister Harris will bring forward legislation as quickly as possible and it will be as consistent with what was published before the referendum.

He said we hope to have a second stage debate concluded before the summer so that an Oireachtas committee can deal with it through the summer months.

He said there is a positive North-South relationship on health co-operation.

"I suspect that women in Northern Ireland will be able to freely travel south of the border where our laws here will apply."