Dr. Caitriona Henchion:

Universal access is what one is going to be looking for. No matter how good any targeted intervention will be, people in need will always be left out. Having said that, it is worthwhile recognising the real world and recognising budgetary constraints, and that one has to do a good health economic analysis on this to try to figure out what the costs would be.

If it is going to be rolled out over time, one would try to see where phase one would start and see who are the most at-risk groups rather than just simply saying it is young people. The abortion statistics say the highest rate of abortion is in the 25 to 35 year age cohort and not necessarily only young people. Perhaps costs might be a more significant reason the younger people are not using contraception than it is for the older age group. It is a lot more complex than just looking at statistics.

There is a very easily recognisable group, for example, where somebody has had an unintended pregnancy. Whether they have an abortion or proceed to have a normal pregnancy to term, that person did not want to be pregnant and could be targeted with an intervention. Be it post-natal care, post-abortion care or specific age cohorts and so on, the important thing is that it would be a structured phased roll-out. I understand where Deputy Donnelly is coming from in wanting to do something, but I would be worried about doing something that is not part of a proper structure, so we can see where it is going, what stage is going to happen when, and where the end point is.