Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister's reply, he sought to suggest that the urgency was in the text of section 7. Nowhere is that reflected in the section, in my opinion. I am genuinely concerned about this, and I am a Deputy who has already declared his support for the passage of this legislation. The whole intent of the amendments is to assist in strengthening the Bill and making it as assuring as possible. In his reply, the Minister focused solely on the lead clinicians - namely, the consultants - but this Bill is also about giving assurance to women who might find themselves in such a situation. It is about delivering clarity and certainty to women at risk in the course of their pregnancy. We can make all the assumptions we wish in respect of the speed with which front-line service providers will respond to given situations that present themselves. We can quote ad nauseam examples in which that has not been the case, including the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar.

There is a responsibility on us to reflect that it is the intention of legislators that consultants are required to respond with the necessary urgency, because that is what is involved. We are talking about lives at risk in respect of physical illness and the threat of suicide. In each of those cases, and as I have reflected later in amendment No. 80 in respect of conscientious objection, somebody who is making a case of conscientious objection cannot sit and twiddle over it. If that is his or her position, he or she must act immediately. That is not in any way to seek to undermine anything in the respective sections that I am addressing in the three amendments of this grouping. I respectfully appeal again to the Minister to accept that this is indeed what citizens and what women would expect from this legislation. I again urge his acceptance and the select committee's support for these amendments.