Results 5,101-5,120 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: -----that the risk of loss of life includes a risk of suicide? That is just a plain, incontrovertible, undeniable fact that could not possibly not be conceded by the Attorney General, unless anyone here is seriously arguing that a person at risk of death from suicide is not at risk of death. This argument sometimes gets extended to a really absurd level because, quite clearly, a risk of...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: The amendments we are now discussing deal with what are clearly the most contentious aspects of the Bill, namely, the provisions under section 9. I listened closely to Deputy Walsh's contribution. He made a point with which I fully agree. In addressing his own amendments, he said that had we omitted suicide from the Bill we would not be acting in accordance with the Constitution. That is...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: They were answered.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I reject Deputy Boyd Barrett's suggestion that the mother's safety is being endangered. This legislation has to address the life of the unborn child and the life of the mother in the context of Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution. A compelling case can be made for including an obstetrician in the assessment provisions in sections 7 and 9. It is likely that a foetal assessment will be...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I ask the Deputy not to quote it selectively as she did previously.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I do not propose to add much to what I have already said. The expert group stated:the role of the psychiatrist is key where a termination of pregnancy is prescribed as appropriate treatment in case of suicidal ideation/intent. There are recognised clinical challenges in correctly diagnosing expressed suicide intent, for instance, the absence of recognised clinical markers. Therefore, it...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I cannot accept the Deputy's amendments. Under the terms of the Bill, a "medical practitioner" means a doctor registered by the Medical Council under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, which indicates a person permitted by law to practise as a medical practitioner in the State. In the performance of their professional activities, all such medical practitioners are subject to the ethical...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: The suggestion that we are jeopardising the safety of women is completely unsustainable in the context of what we are doing. Deputy Daly quoted the expert group in support of her argument, and I have heard her do this before. If we are invoking the export group report in support of the argument, it is important to read all of the report. I read it into the record before for Deputy Daly...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: The expert group is very clear about the case for having a different approach in the case of a physical threat to the life of the mother from that in the case of a threat of suicide, and the report mentions the lack of objective clinical markers in that respect. It is very clear in the narrative of the report and in one of the options it outlines. It makes the case for a different approach...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: The absence of a specific commencement date is due to the fact that operational issues will require to be addressed before the Bill can be commenced. For example, under section 11, the Health Service Executive, HSE, needs to establish a panel of medical practitioners for the purpose of the formal medical review provisions in the Bill. This process will entail contacting the relevant bodies...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I am not aware of any issue arising as to physical structures requiring to be altered. As for Deputy Mattie McGrath's contention, the argument could not be possibly sustained that this Bill is being rushed. The opposite is manifestly the case.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: There is no basis for alleging this legislation is being rushed.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: Some Members advocated that but I did not hear Deputy Shortall advocate it. I heard her advocating for a referendum on another aspect.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: The only way it can be addressed is by referendum.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I apologise for interrupting Deputy Clare Daly earlier because it is not fair to interrupt Members in full flow. It was late at night but I was not reproaching her for not putting it into her Bill. I was doing the opposite. If it were possible to do this, then she would have done it in her two Bills. I was simply making the point that it demonstrates that she went to the trouble of...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: We had a good discussion on this issue on Committee Stage. I pointed out then that one of the things this Government or any Government needs when introducing any legislation - not just this legislation, or this type of legislation - is to be sure it can tell the Oireachtas that it is constitutionally sound. On the face of it that sounds a bit harsh and legalistic, but it is still the case...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I did not suggest it was defined. It is not defined, but I can see philosophically a case for the Deputies' proposal. I can understand where they are coming from in this regard. The necessary implication of the definition they propose, "a foetus which has reached that stage of development at which, if born, it would be capable of life outside the womb" seems to me, unless somebody can...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: It simply is not sustainable to suggest that. What we think ourselves is one matter but we have to act within the limits of the Constitution. Are people claiming that it was the intention of the people in Article 40.3.3oto confine the protection given to the unborn to the foetus above 23 or 24 weeks? One cannot say that in the teeth of what the people decided in 1983, much as one would...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: That is not what I said.

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I said that was all that could be done. That is different. Please do not misquote me.