John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not submit questions so I do not wish to catch the Minister on the hop. I wish to make a few general points and put a question about the Halappanavar tragedy. The Minister and our colleagues will be aware that Ireland has extremely low maternal mortality. In some years there are no maternal deaths and in most years there is one or perhaps two. Most western countries that have varying degrees of legalised abortion have similar rates. It is more an index of social issues and of health status than being specifically to do with abortion. When these deaths occur they are incredible tragedies. They are among the worst deaths that any doctor, nurse of family member would ever have to deal with. It means a totally natural and beautiful phenomenon, childbirth, being destroyed by one and sometimes two deaths. It can be argued that very occasionally one would be prevented by termination of pregnancy. For that reason it could also be argued that we need legislation. The rarity of maternal death, which has been quoted as an argument for not legislating, is not a valid argument. Even if we prevent one death every two, three or five years because the appropriate legislation is in place, that is sufficient grounds for having the legislation. We pass legislation on all manner of matters in these Houses that never saves a life. If we can pass a law that might save somebody's life every three or four years, it is critical that we do so.

The committee structure is manifestly unsuitable. Ireland is small and it is well known in medical legal circles that because of the small medical community in the country it is often difficult to get Irish doctors to take part in medical legal disputes. Selecting three people from the consultant cohort of 122 consultants in Galway was ab initio a mistake. It would probably be a good idea to have more of an international presence on this committee. I am not saying we should not have some Irish doctors but it would be important to have a more international presence. Is it appropriate to ask who or at what level or what organisation or structure within the HSE picked that committee? There is a certain degree of accountability implicit in coming to that conclusion.