Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of parental notification is of concern to people. Parents do not want to be kept in the dark. They want to know what is happening regarding their children, and they want to see that provided for in primary legislation. Fine Gael should understand that the majority of parents want to do the best for their kids. We need to trust them with this type of information. It is important.

Last night, a question was asked about whether this would be provided for in the legislation. It is important to understand that the current situation regarding consent and notification is not covered in primary legislation. This Bill could put it into primary legislation. Yesterday, Deputy Butler tried to pin down the Minister on this matter. Let us be clear, in that the Minister cannot cite any statutory basis for the contention that there is a clear legal obligation on a doctor to notify parents if their child is under 16 years of age and decides to go for an abortion. Further problems emerge in light of the relevant sections of the Medical Council's guidelines and the HSE's consent policy. Both documents expressly allow for providing treatment to a child under 16 years of age without his or her parents knowing of the proposed treatment in certain situations. They envisage this arising only in exceptional or unusual circumstances, but the discretion is left with the doctor. That is the difference with the Bill that we are looking for, in which the discretion would not be left just with the doctor.

If any of us heard of an allegation of abuse or suspected abuse, we would have a moral and legal responsibility to go to Tusla. It would be exactly the same for the doctor. The argument on the other side that this would in some way put children in danger is nonsense. That issue is catered for already.

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