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

As the Senator will be aware, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. A review clause was included in the Act to facilitate monitoring of the impact, operation and effectiveness of the legislation in practice, as well as the delivery of services in this area.

The review of the operation of the Act has commenced and will comprise two phases. During the first phase, information and evidence on the effectiveness and operation of the Act will be collected from women who use the service, health professionals who provide the service and from the public. Independent research commissioned to inform the service user and service provider strands will form key elements of the review.

Research to inform the service user strand has been commissioned by the HSE. The large-scale qualitative research will generate an in-depth understanding of the experiences of women who have accessed services since the commencement of the Act. Independent research is also being commissioned on service providers' views on the operation of the legislation. The tender process for the research is in train. A request for tenders was published on the Government's eTenders website in December. The Minister for Health also announced a public consultation to inform the review on 8 December and the consultation will be open until I April. Everyone who would like to express their views on the operation of the Act should participate.

The second phase of the review will be led by an independent chairperson. As the Minister stated during his appearance before the Joint Committee on Health on 8 December, since the costs involved in contracting an independent chairperson to conduct the review were estimated as exceeding €25,000, the advice he received from his officials was that the Department was obliged, under procurement rules, to tender for the appointment. Under that procurement process, given the expertise required for the position, a small number of candidates, identified as having suitable experience, were contacted and invited to submit a tender to take on the role of independent chairperson. I am delighted to confirm that the Minister has appointed the barrister, Ms Marie O'Shea, as the independent chairperson. Ms O'Shea has significant legal expertise, as well as experience in project management and healthcare sector research. As independent chairperson, Ms O'Shea will assess the extent to which the objectives of the Act have been achieved, analysing the findings of the three strands of phase one of the review as part of it. She will also assess the extent to which the Act's objectives have been achieved and make recommendations to address any barriers identified. The chairperson will also draw on the findings of other relevant peer reviewed research and consult further with stakeholders as necessary.

Concerning the press release issued on 8 December, this was reissued to clarify that the tender, which had issued on that date, was for the research component of the review. The Minister is confident that the chairperson, Ms O'Shea, will conduct this important work thoroughly, efficiently and in a fair and transparent manner. The Minister also looks forward to receiving Ms O'Shea's final report in which she will set out her conclusions, and any recommendations, later this year.