Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's explanations on consulting general practitioners are reasonable. There is an obligation to act expeditiously in all of these issues. I accept these provisions have been drafted professionally to take all of this into account.

Where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother which can only be averted by the termination of the pregnancy, have there been any cases where a GP had a conscientious objection to providing the termination? This would seem to contradict or be superfluous to section 7. Section 9 is a different kettle of fish as it deals with a different issue.