More than a year has passed since the Dáil accepted on Second Stage my Bill to outlaw rogue crisis pregnancy agencies. In March 2017 officials of the Department of Health met representatives of the Labour Party and gave a firm commitment to consider an alternative approach, namely, the regulation of all counsellors giving advice on pregnancies. The regulations were to be placed before the Dáil before the summer recess, but nothing has happened since. I have raised this matter on a couple of occasions in the meantime and it has been referred to the Minister for Health, but nothing concrete has happened. Last week the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment heard further evidence of the ongoing abuse by some individuals purporting to give independent counselling advice. When will this matter be addressed and when will we see the regulations that we were promised?

I know that this issue is of real importance to the Deputy and that he has raised it on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, I do not have an update for him since he last raised the issue, but I will ask the Minister for Health to provide an update for both of us. I think everyone in the House agrees that we want to ensure women who are experiencing a crisis pregnancy will receive the best possible counselling available, that it will come from proper counsellors and that it will be non-directive in nature.