Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address this House on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris. He sends his apologies and has asked me to take this debate on his behalf.

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Last year the people of Ireland voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. They did so, I believe, out of compassion for the women of this country, and out of respect and recognition of the need for safe, dignified and accessible reproductive health care for all. As a result the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas on 13 December 2018 and signed into law by the President on 20 December 2018. In January of this year, we successfully introduced services for termination of pregnancy in our hospitals and community services, and this achievement is testament to the dedication of the clinicians and staff across the service who worked so hard to ensure that this service was available to women in Ireland as soon as possible following the enactment of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018. The Government allocated a total €12 million in the budget for the provision of termination of pregnancy services in 2019. Terminations up to 12 weeks of pregnancy are currently being provided in ten maternity hospital units. In addition, all hospitals are providing terminations in emergencies, where a woman’s life or health is at risk. Terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormality are available, generally, in the larger tertiary hospitals, as in such cases, particular expertise, only available in those hospitals may be required to perform the procedure.

Additionally, to date, 325 GPs nationally have signed up to provide the service in the community setting, where women can avail of terminations in cases of pregnancy up to nine weeks of pregnancy. The Minister’s policy is that all 19 maternity hospitals should be in a position to provide termination of pregnancy services under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. In that context I assure this House that there is regular and ongoing engagement between the Department of Health and the HSE on the operation of the service to resolve any issues that may arise.

Regarding maternity hospital units providing the termination services up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, which is the specific issue of concern, the HSE has advised that additional maternity units are expected to begin providing termination of pregnancy services up to 12 weeks in the coming months. The remaining units will then be considered for service expansion. Of course, the Senator raised a very important point on St. Luke's hospital, Kilkenny, the referrals, the legal aspect and the fear of the unknown. These are all important issues that I will raise as well with the Minister for Health However, the most important issue is that women accessing this service can do so with certainty of the quality and safety of the care they will receive. In that regard, my Department will continue to work with the HSE to ensure all women, regardless of location, can access this service quickly and easily, without bias or judgment, and that we fulfil our promise of a compassionate and dignified termination of pregnancy service.