Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for coming before us. I was very heartened by the start of Dr. Holohan's presentation, when he acknowledged the dire hurt and pain that couples go through to come to this decision to seek help. I would like to see something with regard to well-being or people's mental health forming part of this, particularly if things do not work out for couples. They will have gone through a lot to get to this stage and if things do not work at the final stage, it can be very harrowing for couples. Could something concrete on this be put in at this stage?

What is the timeframe for this scheme? People may be postponing treatment waiting for this to happen and when we consider the pain they have gone through, such waiting can sometimes be very hard. Couples may be getting older and if they have reached the decision to do this, they probably want to do it now. Is it possible to have backdating or retrospective compensation? I would hate it if people put off seeking treatment because of this not being currently available.