Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I do not understand what the Minister of State means when he says, “from a clinical perspective”, because like I said in my opening remarks, the report on this proposal has no evidence base. It refers to an evidence review from 2015 and I am going to quote it again. It says that at that time, "No studies were found that focused on transfers from stand alone midwifery led units, or home births, and any adverse outcomes”. When the Minister of State speaks about a balance of risk, I think he needs to specify what he is talking about because he too is perpetuating that misconception that home births are not safe. He says things like “best outcome”, “timely” and "safe”, but what is he basing that on, because there is no evidence to say that home births are not safe? I have to presume that the Minister of State does not actually realise the reality of them, which is that women are seen so often throughout their pregnancies and are very often referred to the hospital. This is only allowed to go ahead if the pregnancy is suitable for it. It is not what the Minister of State is making it out to be. That is something that he needs to look into.

I am still unclear about the motivation for this plan. Who is pushing for it? None of the relevant stakeholders wants it. Midwives are opposed to it. Families are protesting against it. Again, there is no evidence to support it. This is about quality maternity services and reproductive choices. Home births are safe. They are the preferred options for many families. The Government and HSE should be supporting people, not restricting their healthcare options. I really encourage the Minister of State genuinely to look into this instead of reading off that script, because it is misinformation.

A ban on water births is another limitation on reproductive choice. The Midwives Association of Ireland has called this ban "non-evidenced based, unethical and inequitable". The Minister of State must also be aware that the ban will put some women and infants at increased risk. There are people who for personal reasons and convictions will have a homebirth regardless and they will be intentionally left without healthcare professionals now if this goes ahead. This is about reproductive choices and maternity healthcare that is genuinely centred on women and families. Unless the Minister of State intervenes, it will in essence be his Government’s policy to ban home births in rural Ireland.

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