Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Many of the questions I wished to ask have been asked by my colleagues. However, perhaps the witness would elaborate on something from Choice Ireland's presentation. It is the statistic quoted from the UK Department of Health statistics which suggests that over 4,000 women provided Irish addresses to UK clinics providing abortion services in 2011. There was another flip-flop in this regard in the previous presentation. We were told that a freedom of information request was sent to the Department of Health in England and it yielded the information that no Irish women were sent to abortion clinics. I do not believe that to be the case but will the witnesses elaborate on that?

There is another issue which I thank the witnesses for bringing into the public discourse through their presentation. It is the suggestion from the Irish Medicines Board that many Irish women terminate their pregnancy by ordering a concoction of medication over the Internet. The Government must face up to that. What ideas do the witnesses have for combating that particularly dangerous procedure? Often, women in crisis can find no alternative to it.