Ms Emily Logan:

I thank Deputy Fitzpatrick. I will start with his opening comments on deeply-held views. What I tried to capture in my opening statement was that - no more than in this committee or in Irish society - I am very well aware that people have very strong and deeply held opinions on this. This does not mean that we do not listen to those opinions. In less than three years, the commission has had ten very serious submissions whereby it has commented on this issue. That has meant we have had to listen to everybody's views. It is contested but that does not mean we can set aside our respect for each other as human beings. As such, we do our level best to try to do it within the commission. I respect, of course, that the Deputy does not share our views. I respect him as an individual human being who holds his views very strongly.

The Deputy mentioned rape and incest. One of the things that was called for in the past was a review of the SAVI report of 2002 which looked at sexual violence in Ireland. The survey has never been repeated but while the data is old, it indicates that 22% of people experience familial abuse or violence in the home. That is something we should not ignore. I think Deputy Fitzpatrick had a specific question for Professor Mullally.