Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On a point of clarification, I do accept that Deputy Fitzpatrick does not interrupt people at the committee. However, there is no heartbeat at three weeks. Obviously, from the moment the sperm and the egg fuse the genetic material is there for all of us to have existed, but there is no heartbeat. At seven weeks there is a pulsating tube, from the evidence I have read. It is unfair to suggest that occurs at three weeks.