Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start. I noted seven questions. If I missed any, I ask Deputy O'Reilly to let me know. I will ask the HSE to start with most of them.

The Deputy raised the issue of posters. I thank her for her comments. The Deputy and I obviously have the same view on this issue - heaven forbid we might have the same view on any other. Largely speaking and regardless of one's view on the issue, the campaign had been pretty civil. There are a few cases where that has not been the case. What happened in my constituency with my image yesterday and the posters placed around my office and near my home and my family's home was a very low blow and kind of disgusting. It was very upsetting for parents and families. I do not think it is a fair reflection of the decent people who will be voting "No" or "Yes". It was disgusting and should be condemned by everybody. I regret that, so far, it has not been and I would like visible condemnation of it from all sides because we do not need the final two weeks of the campaign on this very sensitive and important matter to be dogged by such issues.

When we engaged last week, the Deputy asked me about the terms of reference for the scoping inquiry and reforming current legislation to examine how we could have what the Deputy called a bespoke inquiry or investigation. I have raised the matter with colleagues. The legislation resides in justice. I have made a couple of initial inquiries about whether a commission can hold any of its hearings in public. There seems to be a viewpoint that the commission possibly can do so at the discretion of its chair. We have a few weeks between now and the end of June before we get into a commission of investigation and I will use that time to work with the Opposition. It is obviously outside my direct ministerial remit, but I will work with Government colleagues to see what a bespoke investigation could look like.

I certainly do not wish to speak for everyone, but my sense is that we are all agreed that we do not want to go down the road of a big tribunal which will go on for ever and which involves very sick women. That is not appropriate. The commission of investigation could produce a much quicker outcome in that regard, but it needs to be modular. Deputy Kelly reminds me of that all the time and we have included the word "modular" in the terms of reference of the scoping inquiry. We also need to see whether people who want to give testimony in public can be facilitated. We need to tease out a few issues in that regard. I will keep in touch with the Deputy and the Opposition.