Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Inevitably, it may well happen that in cases where patients are prevented from gaining access to the service, they could find themselves in a life-threatening situation, as a result of a delay in the delivery of the service. In such a situation, I will follow on from Deputy Shortall's questions about policing in a big area, 100 m around a facility already 100 m wide.

I accept in the first instance that GPs are in particular locations, but they are not the only people involved. Pre-12 week terminations are something that was readily available previously, not under the law, but through the Internet. The intention was to bring medical supervision into that kind of situation to ensure that people who use the service were not doing so at a risk to themselves, that they were using it appropriately and that the service was available. In these circumstances, my question goes back again to the possibility of identifying the precise locations where the services are available. Under the law, a late termination is a life-and-death situation. How can patients be assured that they can avail of the service without being ridiculed, cat-called and identified in an embarrassing way? The question is whether the witnesses are certain that An Garda Síochána can provide the kind of protection along the lines I suggest.