Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have just a few quick questions. I apologise if I am repeating anything which was asked recently, I was in the Chamber for another matter. Is there any other country in Europe where there is this constant argument or discussion about the life of the live mother, who is walking around pregnant, being given equal weighting to the life of the unborn child? It seems to be a constant discussion in this country. Have other countries dealt with the same issue and, if so, how did they get through it?

On the ninth week of pregnancy, is Dr. Sedgh counting from conception, implantation or date of last period? Will she clarify that? When we look at the hard copy of Ms Hoctor's presentation, particularly the slide on time limits for unrestricted access, do all these countries use the same standard? Do they use either conception point or date of last period? Perhaps the witnesses could clarify that. I have noted from some of the documentation that perhaps we are comparing apples and oranges in some cases. For this chart to be truly, factually correct for the committee, the starting point needs to be the same. We do not want the committee to fall out over the number of weeks. If we are doing this, we want to do it correctly.