136 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on a recent report (details supplied) by a person (details supplied) that the true rate of miscarriages could be three times higher than the recorded rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I have read the article in the Irish Medical Times referred to by the Deputy. Miscarriages are not registered or notified, and therefore there is no national recorded rate of occurrence. Miscarriages which occur very early in pregnancy may go entirely undetected.

Admission rates to maternity hospitals would suggest that admissions due to miscarriage occur in approximately 10 per cent of pregnancies. This may be the source of the ratio of 1 in 10 referred to in the article. This is, of course, a hospitalisation rate and not a rate of occurrence for miscarriages.