Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been listening to the debate on the three amendments and I believe they are reasoned amendments. They bring me back to when the Animal Health and Welfare Bill was before the House. At the time all main farming organisations were lobbying intensively to have the powers of officers working for the Department changed from operating on reasonable grounds to operating on evidence-based grounds.

To be fair to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, he was sympathetic to the cause and did bring about changes in that Bill which was to do with animal welfare.

We are now talking about human beings and basing decisions on good faith. That is not to question in any way the professional conduct of members of the medical profession but we must bring evidence-based medicine into the decision-making process for abortion where the life of the mother is in danger through the risk of suicide. I draw the attention of the House to a report by Dr. Eleanor Corcoran from County Donegal, a consultant psychiatrist of 27 years' experience in the area of suicidal behaviour, its management and prevention. She states that in 2011 there were 525 suicides in Ireland. Of those only 100, or approximately one in five, were women. Approximately one in five of all suicides in Ireland, as I understand from the Department's figures are young men. When we are debating suicide we should not narrow or demean the debate by saying that it pertains only to women because it is a major problem in our country due to the financial pressures and burdens on people. If we really want to deal in a societal way with the scourge of suicide we would take a more holistic approach than the knee-jerk reaction of introducing the Bill before us now. Let us never narrow the debate-----