James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Norris asked me some questions on the health services. As Senator Bacik has said, many people go privately but I can revert to him with more information.

Senator Bradford mentioned the regulations but they were published last Thursday evening. Perhaps he meant the guidelines of the institutes that are still under consideration. They are the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and the Irish College of General Practitioners. Notwithstanding what the medical profession may have said in this Chamber over the course of the hearings, it is part of routine training and there is no need for additional training. This is part of routine training. Members will have heard Senator Ó Domhnaill describe how friends of his and members of his family have had miscarriages. Part of normal training is being able to deal with miscarriage and the complications that arise. Sometimes a woman does not have a complete miscarriage. There is a real threat to the life of the mother if retained placental parts are left inside the womb so they must be dealt with.

I do not propose to accept the amendment. As I stated during Committee Stage, it is intended that medical procedures, under the terms of the Bill, will be carried out in line with current medical practice. It is neither desirable nor appropriate to enshrine clinical practice, which constantly evolves and changes, into primary legislation. What is best practice today could change next year and each time practice changes and improves we would have to return to the Legislature to re-legislate. To me, that would be a very bad place to go and, to be honest, would be impractical and unworkable.

The idea that the Legislature would have a say over the actual mechanism of how doctors practice, as opposed to what they should be doing, was raised last week. We are prescribing what they are to do. We are not prescribing how they are to do it because that would be wrong, in my view. As I said, the medical and nursing professions in this country and across the world have a reputation for care and compassion that has been built over centuries.