Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Its purpose is to confer procedural rights on a woman who believes she has a life-threatening condition in order that she can have certainty as to whether she requires this treatment or not. Last year, the Government put in place a process to examine Article 40.3.3°. A Citizens' Assembly was established with the first order of business being to consider the eighth amendment of the Constitution. In June 2017, the assembly recommended that the eighth amendment be replaced with a provision that explicitly authorises the Oireachtas to legislate to address the termination of pregnancy, any rights of the unborn and any rights of the woman. The assembly also recommended a number of reasons for which a termination of pregnancy should be lawful in Ireland and the gestational limits that should apply.

An all-party committee on the eighth amendment was then established by the Oireachtas to consider the assembly's report and recommendations. I note that the recommendations contained in the committee's report represent the views of the majority of the members. There was not unanimous agreement on this particular issue. That brings me to the point about trusting in politicians. I trust the views of our Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution in respect of this issue. It was a cross-party issue with many different views. In other words, it was a people's committee.

The main conclusion of the committee's work was that change is needed to extend the grounds for lawful termination of pregnancy in this State. To effect that change, the committee recommended that Article 40.3.3° be removed from the Constitution by repeal. I support that recommendation. The committee then went on to make recommendations on the grounds on which a termination of pregnancy should be permitted in Ireland if Article 40.3.3° were repealed. In the first instance the committee recommended that termination of pregnancy should be lawful where the life or health of the pregnant woman is at risk and without distinction between risk to physical or mental health. Assessments should be made by no fewer that two specialist physicians and gestational limits should be guided by the best available medical evidence.

The committee accepted, secondly, that it should be lawful to terminate a pregnancy that is the result of rape or sexual assault. However, there were concerns about the practicability of including rape as a ground in legislation. The committee was therefore of the opinion that it would be more appropriate to deal with the grounds of rape or sexual assault by permitting the termination of pregnancy with no restriction as to reason up to 12 weeks' gestation, provided that it was availed of through a GP-led service and delivered in a clinical context.

The foetal abnormality issue is close to my heart as the Minister of State with responsibility for people with disabilities. The committee recommended that where the unborn child is diagnosed with a foetal abnormality that is likely to result in death, before or shortly after birth, it should be lawful to terminate a pregnancy without restriction as to a gestational limit. Where there is a diagnosis of a foetal abnormality that is not likely to result in death, before or shortly after death, the committee recommended that the law should not provide for the termination of pregnancy. This differs from the recommendation put forward by the Citizens' Assembly, which proposed permitting the procedure up to 22 weeks' gestation in such cases.

I hope this divergence will help to reassure people about the careful consideration the committee gave to this issue. On this point, as Minister of State with the responsibility for disabilities, I attach a particular importance to the committee's statement that the State should provide specific resources for social supports for parents and better facilities for children who have special needs. This is of particular interest to me and is an important issue for me as well. That is why over the past 16 or 17 months we have restored the carers' grant of €1,700 to 101,000 families of children with disabilities. We have also brought back the issue of the medical cards for 11,000 children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance, which cost €10 million. An extra €3 million was provided for the decision support service which will drive the engine room, as it were, of the UN convention. There was also an increase of €10 in the disability allowance in the previous two budgets. Recently, €10 million was announced for the ability programme for young teenagers and adults with a disability. In the previous two budgets, an extra €167 million was put into social care services. After listening to parents and families and also colleagues in the House, we have now recently announced an extra €10 million for respite care. These are issues that are important for disabilities. Of course we have to do more. I want to reform the services, invest in the services and, above all, put people with disabilities at the centre of the services.

It is important that we deal with this issue as well.

Speaking as the parent of a daughter with Down's syndrome who I would not swap for the world - our family is absolutely united on this particular issue and will all rally around my daughter - the real issue is we need to improve services. Diagnosis by CVS, chorionic villus sampling, where a small sample is taken away from the developing placenta and usually analysed in the UK, can take three working days. It should be noted CVS has a risk of causing miscarriage in 1% of procedures. Women may or may not elect to have this test. It is clear, therefore, that the diagnosis of chromosomal abnormality, while technically possible, can rarely or realistically be achieved before 12 weeks. To suggest, therefore, that disability will be eliminated by enacting legislation in line with the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee is misleading. It is important we highlight this particular point.

The majority of Oireachtas committee members accepted the five ancillary recommendations set out by the Citizens’ Assembly in its final report. It also made recommendations, which I strongly support, for the decriminalisation of abortion, free access to contraception, comprehensive sex education and obstetric care as well as counselling. I am fully committed to ensuring all women accessing maternity services should receive the same standards of safe and high-quality care. Every woman from every corner of Ireland should expect to be able to access the maternity services she needs. The implementation of the national maternity strategy, Creating a Better Future Together, will help this. Officials in the Department of Health, under the chairmanship of the chief medical officer, have established a group to address the recommendations and formulate an effective comprehensive response to the issues raised by the committee in its ancillary recommendations. The group will cover issues, both in the Department and the HSE, such as sexual health, primary care, acute hospitals, disability and mental health services, as well as any other areas subsequently deemed relevant.

Sometimes we are presented with the most difficult and challenging problems to deal with, areas in which the way forward may not seem clear-cut. In these circumstances, I believe our health care professionals are best placed to advise on the optimal treatment options. We should allow them, in consultation with women, to exercise their clinical judgment and the high standards of medical practice which we all know they uphold.

I come from the tradition of Wolfe Tone and Tony Gregory, which talks about including Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters with a strong emphasis on equality at the heart of our society. I look forward to a constructive debate on this issue and the issues raised by the committee. We must recognise the sensitivities involved and for this discourse to be respectful of differing views.

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