Independent chair of abortion law review to be appointed this month

An independent chair to review the operation of Ireland’s abortion laws will be appointed before the end of the month, it is understood.

The Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 provides for a review of the legislation three years after its implementation.

A public consultation is already underway for organisations, stakeholders, members of the public and advocacy groups working in the area to give their views on the operation of the legislation.

Separately, a request for tender for a chair to carry out research into the views of service providers was published last December. The chair will provide conclusions and recommendations on the legislation to the Minister by the summer or autumn. Sources have confirmed that it is now the expectation that the chair will be announced before the end of the month.

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One source said that while the review will not be given prescriptive questions around issues like the three-day waiting period for women to access medication, the review will examine whatever issues are raised by stakeholders. This means changes to the law could be made if the review recommends them and if the Government accepts those recommendations.

It is also likely that the final report from the chair of the review will be at first given to the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, who will then bring the recommendations to his Cabinet colleagues.

Mr Donnelly may then decide to refer the report to an Oireachtas committee and make seek the view of the wider Oireachtas before proceeding with any recommendations, although no final decision has been made on this yet.

Mr Donnelly was asked about the status of the review on Thursday.

“I want the chair in place very quickly. In fact, I wanted the chair place before Christmas but I got advice as was discussed in detail in committee session saying that because of the amount of money involved and so forth that we had to go through a process,” he said.

“We’re going through it. I want the person in place very quickly. I’m not interested in a process taking several months. I want the person to come in and help inform that first phase which has now started as well as then doing the doing the work afterwards.”