Professor Siobhán Mullally:

I wish to add that at the European Court of Human Rights a margin of appreciation was allowed for in the A, B and Cv.Ireland case. The court specifically said that margin was not unlimited and that the court must supervise compliance by contracting states in line with their obligations under the convention. That specifically includes regard to Article 8, but in other cases relating to Article 3 there is no margin of appreciation because the article provides for an absolute prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment.

Senator Gavan asked about the position under international human rights law. The positions of human rights treaty bodies are documented in our policy statement. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for decriminalisation. We have noted in the policy document how various UN human rights treaty bodies have called for Ireland to ensure access to abortion in situations where there is risk to life and health. Socio-economic circumstances have also been referred to by the European Committee of Social Rights as have pregnancy due to rape or incest and fatal foetal abnormalities. Committee members will find greater detail on the views and the various concluding observations from UN human rights treaty bodies in our policy document.