Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I took legal advice and consulted the Medical Council. The view was that this is an area of uncertainty. It is being challenged before the courts and rather than try to put legislation around it, it was decided to await the determination of the courts. Depending on the outcome in the courts, which could take some time, we may need to amend the legislation. The strong legal advice was not to start to amend until we know what we need to amend.