Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a few brief points, two of which are slightly off the topic of the Bill. We had a bit if a ding-dong here last week on Committee Stage of another Bill. I want to retract the comments I made. I had not realised that the committee was not briefed that the pre-legislative scrutiny members did was being fully incorporated into a new Bill.

Everyone has a job to do so I retract that comment. Everyone is trying to do their best.

On the second point, which is not relevant to the Bill but relevant to termination of pregnancy services, I would like to update the committee. Members will be aware that the Act, as initiated, requires two consultations with a GP with a three-day gap between them. During Covid-19 we moved to what is being referred to as a blended model whereby one of the two consultations is essentially remote, via a phone call. Typically, the first consultation is a phone call with the GP but the second meeting could be the phone call. On the basis that this approach worked successfully through the Covid pandemic, I asked my Department and the HSE to do an appraisal to see if we could continue to operate that. I received a recommendation from the chief clinical officer and Chief Medical Officer that they were in agreement that this could be done. Last night, I authorised that this approach continue on a permanent basis. The Act will now operate in that way. That is obviously without prejudice to any further conversations based on the review that was done. However, that was an important step that was taken yesterday.