Dr. Clíona Murphy:

We do not have another meeting scheduled. Findings from other countries show that commitment from actors in the national health ministry or department was crucial in having a successful roll-out. We would like a bit more engagement.

On private provision and the private setting, we are keen that the service should continue to be integrated into the public health service. We have listened to our colleagues and we have close connections with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, RCOG, in England. Their experience is much greater than ours and because of a difficulty providing the service in the public setting, outsourcing to private providers took place. Subsequent difficulties arose with a lack of training in the public setting and with variation in standards so we do not want to go down that route. Also, international evidence shows that data and monitoring are very important. If the service is spread between private and public, it will not lead to an improvement in standards. We envisage rolling out a service and there may be changes in how that is delivered over three or five years, as more information is obtained. It is much better if the service is integrated.

The other important area is targeting of abortion providers if they are in silo settings. I draw attention to a difference between private for-profit providers and non-profit providers. The Irish Family Planning Association, IFPA, for example, is different in that it is a not-for-profit organisation and there are strong links between our public provision and the IFPA.