Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes because the clinical guidelines are what help the clinicians to do their job. That is how clinicians interpret the law but if we do not provide them with the clarity in the law, then there is a problem. I am not referring to Deputy Donnelly here when I say that we might find ourselves crossing over into the role of being both politicians and obstetricians. The obstetricians know what they are at here. They know what the neonatal period is and they make these clinical judgments all of the time. They have written a letter to all of us today in which they highlight the areas of this legislation with which they have difficulty. Deputies will note that they are not talking about people swapping doctors and so forth. The letter is from doctors involved in drawing up the clinical guidelines from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Physicians, including masters of our maternity hospitals. They are not flagging this area as being one of concern. They are flagging a number of areas of the Bill as problematic but not this area. I can tell the Deputy, based on my conversations with them, that they have asked for certainty. Deputy Donnelly is correct that they have not said that we should put in "28 days" or "7 days" but they have said that we should put in a definite time period-----