Ms Abigail Rooney:

I will try to go through the questions in order. The Deputy referred to 30 abortions taking place each year due to physical ailments. On the suicide issue, as a woman and equal citizen in this country I find it incredibly insulting that members seem to think I, or any other woman, would somehow manipulate a psychiatrist to allow me to have an abortion. We are equal citizens.

We need to stop bringing that up, it is absolutely ridiculous and very insulting.

Is there any follow up for aftercare? TheEuropean Journal of General Practicestates that when they come back from Britain, many women do not attend for aftercare with their Irish GP because they are ashamed and embarrassed as a result of the stigma that surrounds this issue. Often they present far too late with infection and bleeding. I am not a medical practitioner, a counsellor or a lawyer but this must be dealt with and I am sure there are procedures that can be put in place to do that. We are highlighting the plight of these women and trying to voice their opinions.

To avoid a woman being dragged through the courts if her initial request for a termination has been turned down, we must ensure a medical group deals with the case initially and then, if that fails, she should be able to go to the courts. Initially, however, because this is a time-sensitive matter, she should be able to appeal through the hospital she is in or medical centre she is attending.

There were questions about the qualifications of the practitioners. This was so that not only consultants could sign off on this. We may have got this wrong, I am not sure, I do not know the ins and outs of the registered practitioners, but decisions are specific to cardiologists if cardiology is involved. The master of the National Maternity Hospital tried to deal with that. If someone does not have a consultant post but has gone through the training, he or she should be able to sign off if no consultant is available. Perhaps, however, I am being naive in thinking that.

We support legislation and regulation as outlined in the report of the expert group. That is the best way to go.

I am not a lawyer so I cannot answer the question on fatal foetal abnormalities. Under our Constitution the foetus enjoys and equal right to life with the woman. If the foetus has not died in the womb, it would appear that we cannot deal with fatal foetal abnormalities at present, that we would have to have another referendum to deal with that. I have no idea where the statistics from Britain came from.

The question about the Irish Medicines Board shows that we must deal with this issue. Women in Ireland are not being treated with the dignity and respect they need to be treated with. They should not be self-medicating; these pills must be regulated. These online treatments are putting them at risk and we must do something about that.

The only way to reduce the number of abortions in this country, and they are happening, with most happening in Britain, is to bring in fully comprehensive sex education, free access to contraception, a strong social system and a recognition that we cannot criminalise women for this. Criminalisation is not the way forward. If people think they are saving lives doing that, they are wrong. The only effective way to reduce the number of abortions is to take the steps I just outlined, not to criminalise women or physicians. We must regulate this as soon as possible. It cannot be done without a referendum but we should ask the people.