Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 May 2022
693. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health the reason that he has selected a university from a non-European Union country has selected to carry out research into the experiences of Irish abortion providers as part of the three-year review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. [26508/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was signed into law on 20 December 2018 and commenced on 1 January 2019. Under section 7 of the Act, a review of the operation of the Act must be initiated within three years of the commencement of the Act, i.e., before January 2022.
The Review is being led by an independent Chair and comprises of 2 main phases. As part of the first phase of the Review, information and evidence on the operation of the Act will be collected. There are 3 elements within the first phase of the Review; service user research, service provider research and public consultation.
The second phase of the Review is being led by an independent Chair who will assess the extent to which the objectives of the 2018 Act have been achieved, analysing in that regard the findings of the three strands of information. The Minister for Health appointed Ms Marie O’Shea B.L. as the independent Chair of the Review.
A request for tender to carry out the research into the views of service providers was published on eTenders. The objective of this research is to capture the views and experiences of service providers and will be a key input to the Review of the operation of the 2018 Act. A total of five responses were received and evaluated in line with procurement guidelines. The evaluation process has now concluded, and the successful tender was chosen in line with the published award criteria. This is in line with established competitive procurement processes.
