Ms Sunniva McDonagh:

I thank the committee for inviting me to give some of my observations and I will briefly address some of the questions raised. Under the A, B and C v. Ireland case we must ensure our law is clear and accessible, and we are given a margin of appreciation. Ireland is one of the only countries I know with an explicit right in the Constitution giving a right to the unborn. Comparing us with other jurisdictions is not particularly helpful in that regard. We are entitled to ensure our law is clear and if this is about clarity, the suggestion that we should have a go at putting in certain time limits in our legislation must be the antithesis of clarity.

The question has arisen of the necessity to legislate now because there have been many years since the X case and we have maintained our excellent medical service. No other girl has come to court except for the girl in the C case, who I now understand regrets the course of action that her case took. It seems to be working well at the moment. With regard to the Supreme Court and the X case, the test now being proposed is supposedly a medical test but there is no evidence in the Supreme Court test and when it considered the issue, there was no idea of averting the right to suicide. We know it is a principle of Irish law that a point not argued is a point not decided but one needs to only look at how the Supreme Court has approached, for example, cases of historical sexual abuse, where insights gained from psychiatry and psychology as to why people do not come forward sooner, the nature of disclosure and the effects of abuse on complainants. In the case of SH v. Director of Public Prosecutions, there was acknowledgement of the insights brought to bear on the Court's thinking on advances in psychiatry and psychology.