Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Many of the questions I had have been answered so I have only two brief questions. I apologise for interrupting Deputy Fitzpatrick earlier on but I think it is a point that is worth noting. I probably should have waited my turn. In respect of adoption and whether it is decreasing or not, when we are having any conversation about women and the choices they have made, we need to look at it in the context of our history, the number of women we locked away and put in mother and baby homes and the number of illegal adoptions that took place in this country. If the research is not there, I am sure it would factor in along the way if research was ever done. It is important to say this because I do not think any of us would ever want to advocate that we want to go back to those figures. It just involves being mindful of those women and the fact that they probably would have chosen to rear their children had they been given the support to do so. That was the point I was trying to make.

In respect of socio-economic matters, I know from throughout my time supporting mothers who already have children, particularly if they are at risk of homelessness or are in addiction, that they are always very cautious of seeking help, particularly from State bodies. There is some distrust there sometimes. If somebody is experiencing addiction, how does the counselling operate in this scenarios? Women are sometimes petrified of being judged as mothers. They are worried that the children they already have might be taken off them if they raise the reason that a pregnancy is such a crisis. How do the witnesses deal with that and have they come up against it? Is there a cohort of women who do not access services because it is a State organisation? How can we address that? A point was made that socio-economic inequality exists in respect of being able to travel for abortion with poorer women being more likely to turn to the abortion pill. What is the witnesses' take on the overall impact of the socio-economic status or circumstances of a woman on her options in a crisis pregnancy?