Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Daly. The definition of "health", as the Deputy has correctly said, means physical or mental health. One of the things we were trying to do in defining health was to be absolutely clear that, contrary to what we heard from some during the referendum campaign, mental health is health and mental health is equally important to physical health. The reason we defined health was for the avoidance of doubt. We were keen to ensure that it did not refer only to physical health given some of the worrying commentary we heard about mental health for many years in these Houses and elsewhere.

The definition in the proposed amendment, as Deputy Daly rightly said, refers to complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. I take the point that this corresponds to the World Health Organization definition. However, I have a concern that the concept of social well-being is too nebulous for the purposes of the legislation. Again, let us go back to the conversations members had at the all-party committee. The committee sought to ensure that termination was available where there was serious risk or risk of serious harm to the health or to the life of the woman. That committee wanted to be absolutely certain that the definition included mental health. That committee also made a decision to exclude – I do not have the exactly wording from the committee report before me – socioeconomic grounds and so on. My concern is that while the definition is well-intentioned - it is absolutely the World Health Organization definition - it is broader than what the Oireachtas committee charged me with doing in terms of defining health as physical health and mental health but not extending to social well-being. The committee used certain wording in the report.