Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Conway has asked my question on specialists.

This morning we heard from the Irish Medical Council and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The institute, in particular, suggested that heads 2 and 4 should be merged because it does not differentiate in terms of logistical arrangements between physical or mental reasons for considering a termination. They did agree that maybe the number of specialists involved in the different decisions would vary but that they should not be differentiated within the Bill.

Dr. Monaghan rightly explored with us the complexity of some cases such as oncology and said that each case would be very different. My understanding is, and I was a little concerned with some of the comments made, that psychiatry is a medical specialty and psychiatrists are qualified doctors. However, I know that we will explore the matter more on Monday.

Let us examine the resource issues and availability, especially locally, out-of-hours and during holiday periods. I shall try to put myself in the position of a woman who is in a place that none of us wants to be in, whether it is a physical or mental diagnosis that she has received, what help can she receive from the locality? Will she be referred to Dublin? With regard to the time limits stated in the legislation, are the specialties available in a local area? Will she be referred to a larger unit?

I fully respect conscientious objection and it is important. Do we need to consider, when we are examining geographically appropriate locations, whether we will have an adequate number of professionals employed who have not declared a conscientious objection?