Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are various accounts in the newspapers of the Y case. The reason I want to wait for the report is that there is information in the newspapers about which I know nothing. Therefore, I want to wait for the report, to see all of the facts and consider them. I do not want to jump to conclusions and I am concerned that people on both extremes of the issue, within a day or two of the case happening, had already decided that everything that had had happened confirmed their pre-existing views of the issues involved. That is not a good approach to adopt.

The UN Human Rights Committee recommended that Ireland's laws on abortion be liberalised, but it did not go as far as the Deputy seems to recommend - abortion on request or demand. The Deputy is being a little selective in using the UN committee to bolster her case.

It has not endorsed the Deputy's view of abortion.

The purpose of the Protection of Life in Pregnancy Act was, first, to confirm the general prohibition on abortion in the State and, second, to codify and provide in law for the legal termination of pregnancies where a life was at risk. A termination of pregnancy did occur in the case referred to by the Deputy, but it occurred by Caesarean section rather than being an abortion due to the gestation of the foetus.

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