Professor Kevin Malone:

I was asked if there was evidence in this respect.

With regard to Ireland, we have heard of four perinatal psychiatrists. It is important to bear in mind that consultant psychiatrists throughout Ireland manage the bulk of pregnant women. They refer to perinatal psychiatry if there is a particular problem around childbirth and for a period after but for the vast majority of the time it is the consultant psychiatrists of Ireland who are looking after women in pregnancy with any type of mental health difficulty.

This may be related to Deputy Kelleher's question. There is a challenge in predicting the future. Once that question is asked, one will never be certain about how one will predict the future. That is true of any clinical medicine; it is not just related to psychiatry.

In relation to the X case, to which I referred at the start of my presentation, that psychological evidence is 20 years old and we do not know how it would relate to modern psychiatric practice, but it is worth bearing in mind.