Results 24,521-24,540 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 thank my colleagues on the committee for their interest in this review which we can all agree is very important. The momentous referendum to repeal the eighth amendment marked a necessary and important shift in how Ireland responds to women’s healthcare. We will be looking at the review of the legislation today. As many here, and indeed those joining us remotely, will know, 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 review is up and running as of today. We are doing it in two phases. Phase 1 is very much broad consultation. It involves consultation with service users, services providers and broad public consultation. The review is being initiated today. Phase 2 will be for the chair to collate and analyse all that work and make recommendations as he or she sees fit to the Government which we...

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. I want to appoint the chair as quickly as possible. In the context of putting the terms of reference together for the first piece, we did a consultation with Members of the Oireachtas, civil society and service providers. We did that to shape the review. When considering how long it will take, to some extent we will be led by the chair on this. It may be that there will be...

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: It will be early in the new year. What I hope to see happening is that the report is submitted in the summer or autumn of next year, but we want to give the chair some flexibility in that.

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 the entire process will be completed, and that we could submit something to Government and to the Joint Committee on Health, by next summer or autumn.

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.