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

This is the nub of the Bill and in five or ten years time when people will thank us for having taken our time.

Will the Minister clarify the issue to which he has just alluded? What will be the situation where a person does not have a mental illness and the issue of alternative treatment does not arise? I understand refusing treatment for something other than a mental illness will raise questions, considering what was stated at the Oireachtas hearings.

Irrespective of at what stage of the pregnancy the person is, at the very early stages of viability the issue is crucial because of all types of complications. What is the situation where the mother states it is not the pregnancy but the thought of bearing the child which is causing suicidal ideation and that the only thing that will stop her from committing suicide is an abortion? I will use the Irish word, ginmhilleadh, because it is more descriptive. What ginmhilleadh means is very explicit. What is the situation in this regard? It is germane to this question. What is the right of the child in this situation?

Time and again the Taoiseach has stated this will not lead to a change in practice, but in reply to Deputy Billy Timmins the Minister has made it absolutely clear that this is a fundamental change in practice because in the case of the six young people sent to Britain for terminations, he stated the practice was not to provide them here.