Results 22,561-22,580 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: We will come back at 7.10 p.m. and sit for an hour?
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Can we take them thematically? This is a very big section and there are many big-----
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Yes, that is in accordance with the note I circulated.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: That is in the next one.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: The Deputies who tabled amendments are correct in that we can do better in this section. Deputy Coppinger pointed out that many Deputies have tried to do better in slightly different ways but we are all trying to arrive at the same landing point. The amendments tabled by Deputies O'Connell and Donnelly are similar in that the idea that "examination" has a connotation that the woman's views...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: That is correct.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Absolutely, termination of pregnancy services in Ireland is not going to be done by tele-medicine. There will be a 24-7 telephone line that will be able to advise and signpost and I am sure we will get to that discussion.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Yes, there is. It does not apply at the moment to head 17, so it would create an inconsistency in the Bill. That is a technical point. I do not mean this smartly, but I am not 100% sure which amendment to accept. The amendments from Deputies O'Connell, Donnelly, Coppinger and Daly are all trying to achieve the same objective. Which of us together can get the best wording is something we...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: My instinctive position is that the word "examination" is the crux of the concern. If there is a better word which reflects what the Deputies are trying to say, namely, that there will be a consultation and that the woman's views matter, I would like to try to use that word. Obviously, however, I need to do so in a way that is legally operable.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Deputy Donnelly is from Wicklow and Deputy O'Connell is from Fine Gael. I do not know what to do.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Yes, we are. Obviously, medical consent will apply. No one is suggesting otherwise, but there will be no forced terminations and of course the woman's views matter and must be taken on board. The termination will only happen if that is the decision at which the woman arrives. I accept the point Deputy O'Connell is making to the effect that the language - and use of the word "examination"...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: I am not going to go into what I am going to work on between now and Report Stage and I think my colleagues understand that. The phrase "consultation with" sounds good to me, as a layperson. If there is a medical emergency or if the woman is unconscious-----
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: We need to work that bit out.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: I do not disagree with what Deputy Coppinger is trying to achieve.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: It is coming up next. We are nearly there.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: I will look seriously at the wording because if advice has been received to suggest that it could be problematic then I want to check it out. The terms are different and they are meant to be different if, for example, one puts the word "or" in front of it. I will come back to the Deputy on that but I will seek a legal opinion and revert to the committee. The sense was that the word "avert"...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: It is purposely not defined in the legislation for the same reason I have not defined "reasonable opinion" or "good faith". It has to be about clinicians being able to make that decision. One of the flaws with the way we are having this conversation today, and it has been a constructive debate and this is the nature of Committee Stage, is that we are plucking a phrase from here or there in...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: Physical or mental.
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: I heard many people talk about this in the past during the debates on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act in the Dáil and Seanad. I specifically remember Dr. Mahony, the master of Holles Street hospital, make the point that when there is only life as the ground there is far too thin a line between a serious risk to health - these are not her words but my interpretation of them -...
- Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)
Simon Harris: The Deputy can have that view. The Deputy rightly asked me how to define serious harm. This is a rhetorical question but if one removes it, what is the health ground then? I am not being facetious about this because I do not believe any woman decides to have a termination lightly and nobody should attribute that to what I am about to say. However, I referred to the respiratory tract...