Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their submissions. I will be brief. I gather from what we have heard this afternoon and this morning suicide in pregnancy is rare indeed. There is a suggestion - it has been made regularly - that legislating for suicide in this area would open the floodgates on the basis of mental health. I call on our witnesses to address that subject and the related issues. Deputy Ó Caoláin raised this issue as well or he referred to it indirectly. I am referring to the question of whether the suggestion is being made that women may manipulate their doctors in this area. I call on the witnesses to address this point.

There are only three perinatal psychiatrists in the country. What effect does this have on the assessment process? How do our witnesses envisage that assessment process taking place? Will there be a need for additional resources in this area to deal with it?