Professor Siobhán Mullally:

As Deputy Rabbitte has noted, this was discussed at the Citizens' Assembly, but it has also come up repeatedly before UN human rights treaty bodies. Let us consider the Mellet and Whelan decisions. In particular, Professor Sarah Cleaveland concurred with the Mellet decision. She highlighted in particular the discriminatory impact on women who may not be able to afford to travel due to socio-economic circumstances. This has come up before several UN human rights treaty bodies. It is also something that was commented on and found by the committee on social rights under the revised European Social Charter in the context of the collective complaint against Italy. In that case, there was a finding of a violation of the right to health, read in conjunction with what were deemed to be multiple grounds of discrimination, including in particular socio-economic situations and location. This related to difficulties in accessing an abortion in the Italian context. It can come within that and it is one element of the non-discrimination requirements. It may also be relevant to health and mental health.