Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Heads of Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013: Public Hearings (Resumed)

2:05 pm

Photo of Peter MathewsPeter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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On the constitutionality of the Bill, it is clear on a fair hearing of all the depositions that we are not obliged to legislate in terms we have been presented with in the Bill.

The psychiatrists have said that given the probability of the presentation of someone with strong inclination to suicide is so rare, they will become the qualified adjudicators for suicidal intent to such a degree that the mother's life is impaired and, therefore, they will be signing off that the baby must be killed.