Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe:

I will respond on whether we should merge heads 2 and 4. The view of the institute is that no differentiation should be made between whether the risk of loss of life is mental or physical. It is our preference that the situations would be taken together. One must remember that these are rare, clinical conditions where two senior doctors consider there is significant risk of life to the mother which can only be averted by termination of pregnancy.

In terms of doctors who are conscientious objectors, in a large number of these cases we are talking about emergency situations and the practice and care currently being delivered around the country. We do not have any difficulty with the provision of emergency care around the country. We would defer to the Medical Council in terms of conscientious objection for non-emergency cases.