Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution

Eighth Amendment of the Constitution: Constitutional Issues Arising from the Citizens Assembly Recommendations

1:30 pm

Professor Siobhán Mullally:

The term "real and substantial risk" comes from Irish law. It has been said in many contexts that this can create serious difficulties for medical practitioners in providing health care in a timely way and assessing whether there is a risk to life when complying with the requirements of the 2013 legislation.

With regard to international human rights law, the language used by UN treaty bodies is "risk".