Results 25,561-25,580 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not mean to be evasive but I want to be careful that I do not prejudge the work. We are about to hire an independent chair to provide us with the answer to that exact question. I have my views, obviously, that I am happy to share with the committee, if members would like, but I want to be very careful not to prejudge the piece of work we will be doing. I can certainly share some of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No, I do not believe we have. In parallel, it can be covered in the review and some of the public consultation will cover this. As the Deputy will be aware, I am bringing through legislation as a priority on safe access zones. It was not covered in the legislation but it was one of the promises made as part of the service provision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: As referred to by the Deputy, I believe section 22 of the Act provides for conscientious objection, and that is fully covered. I am not currently satisfied with the level of provision geographically across the country. From my perspective, it is a part of our healthcare system that should be as easily accessible as possible. We have quite rightly provided for conscientious objection given...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I hope my response would not alarm the Deputy. We are in total agreement. I apologise if I was not clear. To be absolutely clear, I do not believe the level of coverage required has been achieved. This is one of the many reasons we need this review. Again, I cannot pre-empt the review, but I will be surprised if it does not address this exact issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, it is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: That is exactly what phase 1 of the review will do. It will give us granular answers to that from the women themselves, from the service providers and from public consultation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Was Ms Luddy looking to come in there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: In terms of the opening statement, unfortunately, I only get five minutes. I guess we have the next three hours to get into all of the detail. We can certainly provide the committee with a detailed note. The terms of reference should be going up on the Department of Health website. I might ask Ms Luddy if that has been done yet. It might have been that they were waiting until after the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I cannot disagree with that. My understanding was that those terms were to be published this morning. I can share them with the Deputy now, if he would like.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I am sure it is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: This information should have been with the committee. It is not satisfactory that this information has not been shared with the committee at this point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Phase 1 is collecting information and evidence on the operation of the Act. As I was saying, there are three elements to this. Element 1 is a public consultation launched today. The public consultation will provide organisations, stakeholders, advocacy groups working in the area and, indeed, all other interested parties the opportunity to inform the review of the operation of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The methodology I was speaking about-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: -----is that which the chair will conduct. If the Deputy is looking for specific selection criteria they will be laid out in the e-tender process. Do we want to go into a normal question and answer session? This would seem to be part of a normal session.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The questions we are dealing with now are exactly the point of the committee session. Should we not just go into normal question and answers at this point? I am happy to do whatever the Chair wants.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy I will ask Ms Luddy to come in after me. The short answer is "Yes". We had several sessions. We had sessions with civil society, service providers and an Oireachtas group. Various views were given. Some were of the view that the most important aspect is a human rights-based approach. Others were of the view that clinical expertise is very important. Where I came down...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, this is correct. To be honest the independent chair is not really required for phase 1. Phase 1 is a very broad consultation piece. Research is being conducted by the HSE. There is a public consultation that will be managed by the Department. It involves service users, service providers and public consultation. The chair will then look through all of this information and assess it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I will ask Ms Luddy to come in on this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Review of Scope and Structure of Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act: Engagement with Minister for Health (8 Dec 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy's question is whether there will be an overlap and whether a chair will be in situwhile phase 1 is still going on so he or she can help inform it. The answer is "Yes".