Dr. Tony Holohan:

Senator Colm Burke asked about provision for an obstetrician and two psychiatrists. It is not proposed by any stretch that the obstetrician has expertise or a function in assessing suicidal ideation. That is not the reason for the obstetrician's being a part of the certification process. The Supreme Court test requires that, first, the criterion of a real and substantial risk to the life of the woman be satisfied and, second, the termination is necessary to save her life. This assessment can be made only by an obstetrician. As the Minister stated, it requires, in part, an assessment of the foetus's viability and such matters.

The obstetrician might be the person who carries out a necessary termination. It would not be workable if this process of certification of necessity did not involve the person carrying out the termination. Therefore, we require two psychiatrists, for the purpose of creating greater certainty around some of the uncertainties to which we referred that arise in the assessment of suicidal ideation, and an obstetrician for those reasons that I have just indicated. They all form part of the process of certification. We are not in any sense suggesting that obstetricians have miraculously found a capacity to assess suicidal ideation.

I presume the Senator was referring to a minor rather than an infant.