Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept fully the point he made about the procedures in Ireland and that the ones I described are not applying here. I accept that current medical practice in Ireland is not something in this area with which I would have difficulty.

My problem is that by not defining medical procedures, the Minister is wide open to those procedures falling in line with those that are happening internationally. I have checked, because of Senator Colm Burke's comments earlier, with three different medical professionals who told everything I have described is, in fact, in practice in different parts of the world, and particularly in the United States. One of them stated, "Jim, you do not have to go further than looking back at the Gosnell trial". I do not anticipate that will happen here but by not defining medical procedures, we as a Legislature are not stating what is allowed and what is not allowed, and that is my fundamental objection to it.