Master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr Rhona Mahony has said she favours the repeal of the Eighth Amendment on abortion for a variety of reasons in relation to women’s health.
Speaking at a Labour Party conference in Athy, Co Kildare, Dr Mahony said that termination of pregnancy only takes places here where there is a substantial risk to the woman's life that can only be removed by termination of pregnancy.
She said this poses great difficulties because doctors are making decisions based on risk, trying to quantify a risk and also in certain conditions she said, doctors have to wait until a woman is sick enough before she qualifies for substantial risk to her life.
In some cases, she said, that can be "medical roulette" and can be very challenging. She added that if the law deals with right, medicine deals with risk and sometimes they come into conflict.
In relation to a life-limiting condition, Dr Mahony said we cannot keep sending people to England pretending it does not happen,
Dr Mahony said that when she is dealing with patients she finds it very difficult as a doctor to know that they will make their own arrangements.
Dr Mahony said she can discuss the patient's options but cannot refer them for treatment and cannot deliver the treatment in Ireland.
Furthermore, she said there are huge difficulties when people travel away, even the practical aspect of bringing the baby's body home and the stigma associated with being on a plane in the context of a huge tragedy, and the person is also separated from family and friends.
She added that women do not really want to talk about it and they must feel at some level that Ireland does not want to recognise or acknowledge this.
Dr Mahony also said there are too many hospitals in Ireland, with 49 acute hospitals for a population of 4.7 million.
She added that within the acute hospitals, four different functions are being performed, meaning there are lots of hospitals but there is actually a shortage of acute hospital beds and the way those beds are used is inefficient.
There is a need to have more efficient hospitals and a campus approach, Dr Mahony said.
