Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We spent some considerable time on this issue in the committee. I do not agree there was confusion. There was debate. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae spoke earlier and I compliment him on what he said because I know he spoke out of genuine concern for young women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies. We have lots of examples. He is quite right about it.

However, what we were and are concerned about is quite common, as Deputy Coppinger said. We were not able to find out exactly what the benefit would be of informing the parent or guardian if the parent or guardian was culpable. There is no use saying it does not happen. It has been in the courts on numerous occasions. It happens on quite a regular basis. It happens quite regularly in the UK, the United States and all over the globe. There is a history of young girls and children in absolutely appalling situations and the perpetrators being in their own households. In some cases it is only found out years afterwards.

We were trying to determine how best to handle that kind of situation so as not to give an advantage to the perpetrator in the event the perpetrator was in the household. In certain circumstances it might give the perpetrator an advantage to escape from the country, to walk away and not be seen again. Our feeling at the time was that in ordinary family circumstances, the support of the parent is regular, necessary and laudable but it does not happen in all cases. How to deal with those particular situations was the issue we raised on Committee Stage. It is still a valid issue and one on which I look forward to hearing more from the Minister. Where a young woman in such circumstances was the victim of abuse within the family, it might put her at much more serious risk if the perpetrator was tipped off beforehand. It was at that stage we decided the GP has a significant and important role to play because he or she will be the first port of call. The GP would presumably have some knowledge of the family and some local knowledge and would be in a position to advise the girl or woman in a particular way and would be able to intervene in a very useful way. That is why we spent so much time discussing the relationship between the patient and the GP in order to be absolutely certain we did not leave a weakness in the legislation that would be capitalised on by people of unsavoury character.

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