Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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31. To ask the Minister for Health to amend the terms of the treatment abroad scheme to include medical treatment in relation to termination of pregnancy, reasonable travel, accommodation and subsistence for the woman and a travel companion, particularly as the State's forcing of a woman to rely on their own financial resources entirely outside the public health care system in a case (details supplied) constituted discrimination and a violation of human rights. [20615/16]

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Entitlement to travel for the purpose of receiving medical treatment in an EU/EEA Member State or Switzerland is provided for by EC Regulation 883/2004, which has as its objective the coordination of national social security systems within the EU/EEA and Switzerland. One of the conditions set out in this Regulation is that authorisation for treatment in another Member State will be allowed " where the treatment in question is among the benefits provided for by the legislation in the Member State where the person concerned resides..."

In Ireland, fatal foetal abnormality is not a lawful ground for termination of pregnancy; terminations are lawful only in cases where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the pregnant woman which may only be averted by termination of the pregnancy.

EU Regulations are binding in their entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. This means that a Regulation becomes part of each Member State's national legal system at the same time and without the need for transposition, thus ensuring uniformity of law throughout the EU. The Regulation has legal effect in each of the Member States simultaneously and independently of any national law. A Member State cannot unilaterally amend or ignore the provisions of an EU Regulation without breaching its obligations under EU law. Such a breach may lead to the State being liable in damages before the courts.