Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her questions. In terms of the timeline, to be clear, the requirement in the Act is that the review is commenced within three years. It is not required to be concluded within three years; it is required to be commenced in that timeframe. As to whether it will be April before a chairperson is appointed, it will not. A chairperson will be appointed early in the new year and will be involved as quickly as possible in phase 1 as well.

We are going out to tender because the advice I have from the Department is that there is a legal requirement to do so, given the likely quantum of money involved.

The Deputy asked a really important question regarding whether summer or autumn will be too long to wait. Obviously, there are people waiting for this. We have to try to strike a balance. The report has to be meaningful and my view is that for that to happen the consultation must be meaningful and comprehensive. We need to consult widely with the public and service providers and, most important, with the women themselves. Doing that in a meaningful manner takes time. We then need to leave time for the chairperson to absorb all that information and make recommendations. We are trying to find a balance to make sure there is sufficient time for this to a very meaningful review. Our estimate is summer or autumn.

As regards expertise, I fully agree that the chairperson, whoever he or she is, will not have all the expertise required. I doubt anybody has all the expertise that is required. As such, it is my intention that the chairperson will have access to the expertise he or she deems necessary. Should we call it an advisory panel or an expert panel? I have no issue with that at all. The most important thing is that no one is expecting this one person to be able to be across all of these complex issues. Will we have a multidisciplinary approach? We will. Will the chairperson have access to the expertise he or she deems required? Absolutely, he or she will.