Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill, against which I will be voting. I believe in preserving and protecting human life. This is an emotive and difficult issue and as such, it is easy to find merit in almost every single one of the many hundreds of representations that most Members and I have received in recent weeks. What I cannot get away from is the fact that I know of two cases in which the pre-natal diagnosis proved to be incorrect. In one case the family were told that their child would have Down's syndrome. They had made peace with this diagnosis and after nine months were ready to welcome a child into the world with that condition. However, they were to be shocked because the child was born perfectly normal. In the second case the family were told that their baby would live for only a number of hours or days. The baby's severe condition also had been misdiagnosed and the child is perfectly healthy today.

The Bill addresses the health of the mother, rather than of the child, but it is my understanding - I have spoken to a number of health professionals to seek their advice - that it is very rare for a medical condition to present that would leave no choice but to terminate or endanger the pregnancy to save the life of the mother. Where that is the only option, however, I would fully support that decision and, as I understand it, that stance is already taken in Irish medicine. However, there is far too much of a grey area in the Bill, as it stands. The risk of misdiagnosis is a major concern, particularly when we come to psychological and psychiatric conditions. I do not want there to be a situation where we would have abortion on demand under false pretences. As a scientist, I am well aware that there must be tolerance of errors in all that happens in science. However, errors in this instance have fatal consequences.

I support the Government's position in opposing the Bill, as it stands. Under the programme for Government, an expert group has been set up under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Seán Ryan which will present its recommendations, I think, by mid-July. We need to wait for its report. At that stage the issue can be discussed further. We have to be careful that we do not use exceptional cases to form standards for legislative change. We have to be careful not to open the floodgates for abortion and to remember that every child is precious. We need to provide support to the mothers who find themselves in this position in a non-judgmental fashion. We need to look at all the other services that surround this, including adoption and support services, which are very important. We need to tackle the underlying causes of suicide, which is an awful malaise in this country at present. Abortion will not cure all the symptoms in the long term. We need to be careful about this.

The expert group is examining this issue. While I am glad it is being discussed, we should not jump to conclusions too quickly. Opening the floodgates to abortion in this country would, I feel, be a retrograde step.

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