Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Not to be picky but I wish to pick up on the reference to pregnant directive-makers. A person might not fall under the definition under section 82 of the primary legislation regarding AHDs. One makes an AHD when one has capacity to envisage a situation where one may not have capacity. The person may be pregnant at the time the directive comes into being but not at the time it is being created, so we need to be careful that we are not calling the person "pregnant" and for that to become an issue of interpretation as to whether a person was pregnant and envisaged pregnancy. Hence, we come back to the suggestion made by the Leader to provide for a statutory requirement for women creating an AHD to consider what should happen in the event of pregnancy. If that were in place, there would be no ambiguity in respect of what would happen in that situation. It seems to be a cleaner way forward to ensure there is that statutory imperative in place.