Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Hennessy can give further information on that. It is a matter I inquired into this morning. Some of them were offered an alternative community midwife while others were not and were offered hospital care instead. Community midwives in Ireland are independent contractors and cannot be forced to take on women if they do not want to. Where a community midwife is available and willing to take the patient, that has occurred. It has not been possible in all cases and, as a result, they have been referred to hospital. I am happy to allow Mr. John Hennessy to speak further on that.
I also checked out the Caesarian section rates. People are of the opinion that the rate is too high, and that is a legitimate opinion, but it is not correct to say that our Caesarian section rates are out of kilter with other countries. We are the mid-range for the Western world when it comes to Caesarian section rates.
The abortion guidelines were drawn up not by me but by an expert committee which included psychiatrists. We can never get five doctors in a room to agree on everything, particularly in respect of ethical issues, and the fact that one third of psychiatrists do not agree with the guidelines is not that uncommon. If there were guidelines on cardiac care, we would find one quarter or one third of doctors who do not agree with them. That is the nature of these matters. It was drawn up by a committee that included psychiatrists, and they were particularly involved in that aspect of the guidelines.
I do not want to speak too much about the Ms Y case. One of the most distressing things that happened to her was that her confidentiality was breached. It is not the kind of thing that happens in other countries and it should not have happened. She does not want to relive the experience of what happened to her, and that is why I will decline the offer to tell the Deputy more about what is happening to her or where she is now. She is an individual and should not be treated as a cause célèbre.