Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gavan for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. Section 7 states: "The Minister shall, not later than 3 years after the commencement of this section, carry out a review of the operation of this Act." This review clause, introduced by the Government on Committee Stage in the Dáil, was included in the Act in order to facilitate monitoring of the impact, operation and effectiveness of the legislation in practice, as well of the delivery of services in the area.

The Minister has asked me to confirm that the review will be led by an independent expert in line with similar reviews of legislation under the aegis of other Departments. The Minister expects the independent expert appointed may wish to have input on the methodology and may wish to undertake his or her own detailed consultation with particular individuals or groups. At this point, however, he anticipates that a three-part approach will be taken to the review of the operation of the Act. The three strands of this approach will focus on women who have used the service, service providers and public consultation.

Women who have used the service are clearly a crucial group to consult in reviewing how the Act has operated during its first two and a half years to date. For the review to be effective, it must find out whether the legislation provides access to termination of pregnancy services in practice to those who wish to avail of them. In this regard, independent research exploring women’s experiences of termination of pregnancy service and gathering their views of how the system has operated since January 2019 will it be essential.

Information from service providers we will provide the second key strand of the review. In this regard, we will need to gather the views of those involved in providing termination of pregnancy services in both community and acute settings in Ireland. This research will encompass input, for example, from hospitals and GP surgeries providing termination services, from individual medical practitioners in both settings, from the medical colleges and from the HSE.

In order to ensure that all those who wish to do so are given a chance to share their views on the operation of the Act, it will be important to include an opportunity for members of the public, special interest groups or any other interested parties to submit their views for consideration in the review. This will be achieved through a public consultation process.

Once the review has been completed, it is expected that a full report correlating the findings from all three strands, and including any necessary recommendations, will be submitted to the Minister for Health for his consideration. The Minister has held a number of meetings with stakeholder groups to discuss this approach to the review. Thus far, there appears to be broad agreement that it would be appropriate and effective. The process is continuing, however, and the approach will be finalised in due course. In the meantime, the Minister has asked me to assure the House that the Department continues to work with the HSE to ensure that all women can access this service quickly and easily and without bias or judgement, and that we continue to provide a compassionate and dignified termination of pregnancy service. The most important thing is that women accessing the service can do so with certainty of the quality and safety of the care they will receive.