Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We all feel challenged in that area talking about these issues. We have to leave all that behind and try to legislate for the common good in the best interests of men, women, children and, I would wish, unborn children. What gender we are now or in the future is irrelevant in doing this terrible duty that is upon us.

The Minister referred to claims that were made about diabetes, for example. He is bringing this issue to the ground of physical health. On that point alone, a very eminent specialist in the area contradicted what was being claimed in regard to diabetes, blindness and the inability to give appropriate treatment under the then existing law. That is just an example of how political claims can be made, but this is why we need to get into chapter and verse. The Minister and I are politicians and it is true that neither of us is a medical practitioner, but there is a factual substratum to what we are talking about that is critical to the decisions we make as legislators. Pretending we should not be having a discussion or avoiding discussions about the distinctions between the types of medical situations that can arise on the basis that we are not doctors is disingenuous by way of argumentation. We can look only at what law makes sense in light of what factual circumstances arise, and we cannot shy away from talking about those circumstances. It is for that reason that I press on the Minister again the inappropriateness of the lack of clarification regarding what we mean by health.Healthcare situations can arise that necessitate a medical intervention in which the life of the child may be lost, while other situations might arise where a doctor may make a subjective judgment of harm to health that is not appropriate by any objective assessment of good healthcare. As I said, the non-exploration of distinctions in cases where there are necessary and appropriate treatments for mental and physical health reasons leaves the Bill dangerously, inappropriately worded.

I return to what I asked the Minister previously. Will those guidelines which update medical practitioners on the latest and best scientific and research information on abortion and mental health treatment be made available? Will he give a guarantee that there will not be a politicisation of medicine but rather an objective and neutral presentation of the facts? That is a critically important issue.