Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Brady for his evidence. Coming back to the European Court of Human Rights judgment, it made the point there needs to be reasonable or practical access to a termination in certain circumstances in Ireland and there is a responsibility on the State to put that process into place. That is why we are dealing with and debating this today. It had been inferred earlier that sign-off by three doctors would run contrary to the European Court of Human Rights judgment. We had evidence from professionals in the field and obstetricians that a sign-off would require two obstetricians plus a specialist in a particular field. In the case of suicide, it would be a specialist in psychiatry. That means there would be a minimum of three doctors to sign off in some cases. A perinatal psychiatrist gave evidence yesterday that in the case of suicide that it was their opinion that two psychiatrists should sign off. In those cases, one is talking about a minimum of three and maybe up to four specialists having to sign off. Would that run contrary to the European Court of Human Rights judgment in light of the fact that these are the professionals at the coalface making this point about signing off?