Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have two questions, the first of which is to Mr. Niall Behan of the Irish Family Planning Association. With regard to the submission made about the services the IFPA provides in assisting people in the decision they make, we know this is a very complex area and that circumstances can arise in which a woman decides that, ultimately, a termination is most appropriate for herself. Listening earlier to the psychiatrists and their analysis and interpretation of statistics and facts, I saw clearly that there was even some divergence among those eminent people. Does the IFPA assist people in terms of accessing psychiatric services first and foremost, or does it consider that if a person has made a decision to terminate a pregnancy, for mental health reasons or due to suicide ideation, intent or otherwise, it should suggest that maybe, initially, some form of psychiatric support is the most appropriate option? The evidence to date from the psychiatrists suggests that intervention is of assistance and it is not necessarily the case that termination is the correct decision at the end of the day. If a woman is given assistance, she may ultimately decide that a termination is the only option for her, but at least she would be given support.

On the issue of lack of legal clarity, have the representatives of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in their professional capacity, ever had difficulty in arriving at a decision to intervene and interrupt a pregnancy to save the life of the mother? We hear a lot about the fact that this is seldom carried out as a procedure to save the life of the mother and there are varying views as to how many such interruptions are carried out every year - we have heard mention of 20 to 40 times a year. Have the representatives of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists experienced circumstances in which they felt they could not intervene at a particular stage to save the life of the mother because of lack of legal clarity or the threat represented by sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act? Has that affected their professional capacity to intervene in saving the life of the mother?