Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome our witnesses and thank them for attending. When listening to Ms Donlon's presentation, I reflected on the fact that it has been many years since I marched with my mother on the streets of Dublin for the right to information. I said to my mother at the time, "This is ridiculous. This is only information." Of course, now there is a raft of information available, not only from the HSE. Ms Donlon states that there has been a gradual decline in the numbers travelling and a gradual increase in the number of women who are accessing abortion pills online. Presumably, given that the one is going down and the other is going up, we can say that the number of women accessing abortion care is remaining relatively steady, as is the number availing of counselling, 442, which, as Ms Donlon said, is very low. There is an great deal of information out there, which can be accessed with a few clicks of a mouse. Women know that the services are available, that the aftercare and emotional support are there, should they require them. However, the figure for those availing of counselling remains consistently low. Would it be true to say that this would indicate that women are happy with their choice and have no need for follow-up counselling? Perhaps Ms Donlon could elaborate on that?

On the rogue agencies, I am thinking particularly about work done by the journalist Ellen Coyne on those agencies that will tell women that if they have had abortions, they are at greater risk of breast cancer and other nonsense of that nature which we know has no basis in medicine. Ms Donlon says those agencies target women in crisis pregnancy. Could she elaborate on how that is done? I echo what my colleague said - we do not often find ourselves agreeing with Fine Gael but we will say so when it happens. I welcome the moves by the Minister to regulate these agencies, particularly those which were highlighted in the reports and which are giving that sort of information to women who, in some instances, are frightened. How is that targeting happening?