Sir - Yours being our newspaper of historical record, may I put on record my opening statement reasons for two views your reporter Alison Healy attributes to me (Oireachtas Abortion Committee hearings report, The Irish Times, July 13th)?
She says: "Mr Foyle said there was no need for another referendum because the current situation was `totally adequate' ". My reason: "It [the current legal situation] permits [pregnancy] terminations deemed necessary to save mothers' lives and prohibits those deemed unnecessary for that purpose."
She also says: "He said the only downside of the current situation was that it left the door open for abortion on the grounds that the mother was at risk of committing suicide. `But there's no need to go to the expense of another referendum just to get this out,' he said." My reason: "In my view the 1992 Supreme Court members took a particular suicide threat too seriously. However, that eight-year-old precedent has never been used for infanticide purposes. Its precautionary elimination is hardly worth the expense of a separate referendum."
The three Committee members present did not discuss those reasons - Yours, etc.,
Joe Foyle, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.