Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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All present would agree that the lack of perinatal care and the problems in our maternity services are issues that come up quite a lot.

However, the shortcomings Ms McDermott has highlighted exist in Ireland now in the context of the eighth amendment being part of the Constitution. The situation is bad now, when we do not provide for abortion in Ireland. Why does the witness think that if we provided for abortion things would get worse or that there is any link between the two things at all?

The reality is that 170,000 Irish women travelled for abortions, mainly to Britain, since the eighth amendment became law. If we acknowledge that that reality exists, and those people do not have a right to determine their own pregnancy, what is the solution? Should we compel them to continue with the pregnancy? How do we deal with that when many of them say that it was the right decision for them? If we recognise that that was genuinely their decision, do we say they should be compelled to continue the pregnancy? I would like to grapple with that question. I sincerely thank Ms McDermott.