Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. In a situation where there are only three perinatal psychiatrists available for the entire country, if my sister, wife, niece or neighbour, for example, presented to her GP stating that she was suicidal and wished to see one of the delegates, how long would it take before she, as a person living outside the main centres of population, would be likely to secure an appointment? Assuming that a woman in that situation does obtain an appointment and notwithstanding the unique circumstances of every case and the complexity of the issues involved, how long might it typically take to deliver a diagnosis that the person was suicidal and that, post-legislation, an abortion, in the rarest of instances, as Professor O'Keane outlined, might be part of the proposed treatment? The delegates indicated that, as a profession, for every 100 suicides they might predict, only three would typically materialise. Are they of the view that a similar proportionality would apply in the case of women who are pregnant and suicidal? Is it conceivable, in other words, that we might have a situation where 100 terminations are deemed necessary in order to save three lives?