Results 44,261-44,280 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It really is.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: They are not.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: We could probably break them into three groups, but discussing them together will lead to serious confusion.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the spirit of the amendment. It is unfortunate language to insert and we are pulling the language of the eighth amendment into the legislation. However, the Minister has laid out the legal and medical advice. If the constitutional lawyers, drafters and medics are telling us that this is what is needed to make the legislation legally and medically robust, and critically provide...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Was other language considered? Was an effort made to avoid replicating this language? If so, are there other alternatives? If not, can something be done between now and Report Stage?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I welcome the Minister's comments but I support Deputy O'Reilly's amendment. It sounds like many of us are on the same page in what we want to achieve and the 2005 Act is clearly very important. I want to press this a little more. One of the great problems with the eighth amendment was that it caused confusion for doctors. There were several issues with it but one was that it caused...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Termination of pregnancy services should be free and I will oppose the amendment. However, it is perfectly legitimate of any Member of the Oireachtas to query and debate which health services should be free. For those of us who believe that termination of pregnancy services should be free, it is incumbent upon us to make the case. Some of the criticism of the amendment is technically...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: -----to buy pills and self-administer without medical supervision or safety. For those reasons, termination of early pregnancy under section 13 must be free because we are trying to provide this service to everyone. The next section that is not exempted relates to fatal foetal abnormalities. Perhaps this was a drafting error. I would find it unconscionable that any pregnant woman faced...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: My personal view is in direct conflict with my view of what the people have voted for on this. Personally, I oppose strongly the section, which feels completely over the top. It has a chilling effect, as we know. Points have been made around no such penalty of 14 years ever having been suggested for men's reproductive health and, indeed, medical malpractice and so on is already covered in...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the idea of a report. The standard period is five years for most legislation. The question is whether this Bill is different and whether there is greater urgency to see how this goes. I certainly believe there is. This is highly sensitive legislation. There are very serious concerns raised by doctors, the institutes and all sorts of people. It is not about being more...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to make a procedural point. The next two or three groupings are really important. They are going to speak to much of the subsequent sections, including sections 9 to 13, inclusive. My sense is that they are over-grouped. The Minister has shared his sub-groupings. I have gone through them all and they actually make perfect sense. For example, under the fourth group amendments Nos....

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is not in these groupings. We were provided with a second set of groupings. These were not the committee groupings. They have simply been shared with us. The idea is to go with that.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I have listened to the back and forth on this amendment. I tabled amendment No. 70, which could be grouped with this. The issue of fatal foetal abnormalities and this 28-day period arises twice - in the definition and in section 12. I have sought to do in that section what Deputy Bríd Smith is seeking to do in the definition section. I think the Minister has got this wrong. I would...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us break this down. We are talking about legal and medical advice. We need to look at section 12, "Condition likely to lead to death of foetus", subsection (1), which states: "A termination of pregnancy may be carried out in accordance with this section where 2 medical practitioners, having examined the pregnant woman, are of the reasonable opinion formed in good faith that there is...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is also the case that the Minister cannot share that advice with the committee. The purpose of Committee Stage is for him to explain to us the legal implications of the legislation. Will he tell us, then, regarding the legalities of the Bill, and given that the 28-day provision can be put into the guidelines, the legal problem with taking that provision out of the legislation?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Even if it is in the medical guidelines?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Have they said that they need it in the legislation rather than in the guidelines?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister for that. The other wording which was proposed - I cannot remember who it came from - had legal input, as far as I remember and was that there was a fatal foetal condition "present". Was there an issue with that wording?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The "shortly thereafter" phrase seems to be what is problematic because it is fuzzy.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I move amendment No. 37:In page 9, to delete lines 6 to 8. Amendment No. 37 needs to be taken in conjunction with amendment No. 50. I will talk the Minister through the intention behind the amendment. It is to take the definition of "viability" out of the definitions section and moving it into the only section where it is actually used. The reason for that is because "viability" is...