Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When "never again" is said on this occasion, it needs to mean never again. I suggest to the Tánaiste that this means that he ought to ask the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, to explain to him, the Cabinet and to those of us in the Chamber how it is that only five out of 19 maternity facilities introduced the guidelines. We want to know why that is the case and the public ought to know why that is the case.

The Tánaiste referred to the issue of resources. I hope the Tánaiste will not use this report or the tragic turn of events for Savita or Tania McCabe as some kind of pretext to cut back on maternity services. The Tánaiste is right. We have to make decisions about how we arrive at the safety that we all require. I agree with him entirely. However, I put it to the Tánaiste, and I know from experience, that for a heavily pregnant woman, the prospect of having to travel hundreds of kilometres to get to a maternity service or hospital would not be a helpful or a terribly safe thing for her to do.

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