Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

194. To ask the Minister for Health the person or body that has been awarded the contract to undertake research with service providers of termination of pregnancy services as part of the three-year review process; the way that providers of services such as services (details supplied) will be able to feed into this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15234/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. Under section 7 of the Act, a review of the operation of the Act must be initiated within three years of the commencement of the Act, i.e., before January 2022.

A request for tender to carry out the research into the views of service providers was published on eTenders. The evaluation process has concluded, and a preferred bidder has been identified. Bidders have been informed of the outcome of the process, however I am not yet in a position to announce the details of the preferred bidder. In line with regulations a standstill period is currently being observed and my Department cannot conclude a contract with an identified preferred bidder during this period. Subject to the completion of various particulars including the standstill period and the acceptance of the preferred bidder to undertake the relevant work, my Department aims to conclude a contract as quickly as possible at which point the details of the contracting party can be provided.

The objective of this research is to ascertain the experiences of service providers in the context of services under the 2018 Act. The research to be carried out on the experiences of service providers will be carried out by the relevant bidder, the outputs of which can be drawn on by the Review Chair in completing the review of the operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.