Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Ross for allowing me two minutes of his time. It must be clear that there is no protection for the embryo until implantation starts in the uterus. That is the present situation. There is no legislation whatsoever in Ireland, just Medical Council guidelines, to cover the period from fertilisation to implementation. The only people in this Chamber who cannot do research into embryos in this country are the Minister of State, Deputy Devins, and me because we are medical doctors. There is no protection for women who receive IVF and no protection for their embryos and foetuses. That is a shame on both Houses of the Oireachtas. It is fine to wear our souls on our sleeves tonight on this issue and I feel strongly about it. The Minister of State, Deputy Devins, and other Members of this House served with me on the Joint Committee on Health and Children from July 2005 to December 2006, where we talked ad nauseam about the lack of legislation for IVF and the constitutional issues on which we are, in some respects, touching tonight. We have yet to see legislation on this issue for the protection of women. We should move this legislation on and get it through the Houses of the Oireachtas as quickly as possible.

Senator Frances Fitzgerald and I feel very strongly about this issue and we wall raise it with the Leader again, particularly as it relates to IVF and the protection of women.