Written answers
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Department of Health
Departmental Data
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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869. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children with down syndrome born in Ireland for each of the past ten years. [14219/25]
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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870. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children with down syndrome aborted in Ireland for each of the past five years. [14220/25]
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 permits termination to be carried out in cases where there is a risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health, of the pregnant woman; where there is a condition present which is likely to lead to the death of the foetus either before or within 28 days of birth; and without restriction up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. There is no provision in the Act for termination on grounds of disability.
Prior to the Referendum on the 8th Amendment, the General Scheme of the Bill to regulate termination of pregnancy was published. The final legislation enacted is consistent with the published proposals.
Under the Act, certain data on termination of pregnancy is required to be collated by my Department via the notification procedure. However, to protect the privacy of the person seeking the termination, this information is limited to:
- The Medical Council registration number of the medical practitioner who carried out the termination of pregnancy;
- The section of the Act under which the termination was carried out, i.e., section 9, 10, 11 or 12;
- Medical Council registration number(s) of the medical practitioner(s) who made the certification concerned;
- The county of residence, or place of residence (where the woman resides outside of the State) of the woman concerned;
- The date on which the termination of pregnancy was carried out.
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