Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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94. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the work carried out by a person (details supplied) on the report into the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Act) 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61091/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Health commenced the Review of the operation Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 in line with statutory and Government commitments. The Review is assessing the effectiveness of the operation of the legislation and will be conducted in a fair and transparent manner. 

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

A very substantial amount of work has been completed and very informative data collected that is feeding into the Review.

As the review is reaching its final stages unfortunately there has been a slight set back on the completion date due to the Chair being unwell in November. The Chair is also awaiting key research from a study, CORALE, being carried out at Trinity College Dublin, that is examining Section 22 of the Act regarding conscientious objection. This research is underway, with input from lawyers, hospital doctors, GPs and strategic managers.  The data will inform the Review. However, this data will not be available until January 2023. The opinion of the Chair is that this data is vitally important, given that it will assist in understanding how section 22 is operating.

The Review will be made available to the Minister no later than the 7 February 2023.