Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because I know others want to come in. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Dr. Boylan said the timeline is challenging. It certainly is challenging for women when they find out they are pregnant and the clock starts ticking in a very real way. It is challenging for the women who are taking the pill today, as Deputies Coppinger and O'Connell have described. It is estimated that 1,000 women will be travelling to the UK, which has been going on for years. We waited 35 years for what happened yesterday; the timeline is certainly challenging but some 66.4% voted for change. Given that time is of the essence for women, how can we as legislators work with colleagues in the colleges to make sure that there is no undue delay, for example in the drawing up of the guidelines that Dr. O'Brien mentioned? Do we need some formality on that?

Going back to the three-day interval, Dr. Boylan and Dr. Murphy clearly said in their paper that it is not supported by evidence, so surely there is a case that it should not be in the law. Would the doctors recommend we avoid putting it into the legislation? Would the witnesses be willing to write to the Minister for Health asking for an urgent meeting of all of the stakeholders, which should include women, the Irish Family Planning Association, the HSE and all of the various colleges and the doctors? Would they be willing to write to the Minister asking for that stakeholder leadership?