Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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481. To ask the Minister for Health the number of submissions that his Department received through its three year review public consultation process of the abortion legislation; if he will provide a breakdown of the findings drawn from the public submissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21952/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Health commenced the Review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 in line with statutory and Government commitments. The Review will examine the Act of 2018, which sets out four different types of situations in which a termination of pregnancy can lawfully occur in the State, accessing the effectiveness of the operation of the legislation. 

The Review comprises of 2 main phases and is being led by an independent Chair. As part of the first phase of the review, information, and evidence on the operation of the Act is being collected from women who use the service, and from health professionals that provide the service; the views of the public were also sought via a public consultation.

The public consultation provided organisations, stakeholders, advocacy groups working in the area and all other interested parties to inform the Review of the operation of the legislation. The public consultation closed on Friday 1st April 2022 and the review of submissions received as part of this process is currently underway.

The second phase of the review will be led by an independent Chair who will assess the extent to which the objectives of the Act have been achieved, analysing in that regard the findings of the three strands of information, on the operation of the Act. The Minister for Health has appointed Ms Marie O’Shea B.L. as the independent Chair of the Review.