Some words jump out from the study published today on unplanned pregnancy support and abortion care conducted by Dr. Catherine Conlon and her colleagues at Trinity College Dublin. The purpose of the study was to discover the experiences of women who have sought to access abortion under our abortion legislation. The words expressed by women include "awful", "draining", "arduous", "harrowing" and "distressing". This really shows just how inadequate our current legislative structure is to meet the real needs of women in crisis pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy. These are the women we voted to support in 2018 in the repeal referendum when the people voted with a 66.4% majority to ensure women would have access to abortion services in Ireland. Yet what we see from the study published today is that the paternalistic shadow cast by the eighth amendment is still over our system of abortion care provision.

The National Women's Council points out that it is clear from the experiences of the women expressed through the study that significant systemic improvements are required. Women share the anguish and distress of being deemed ineligible for care on the grounds of fatal foetal anomalies, the disempowering impact of the three-day wait and the shock many women have had at the lack of GPs providing care in rural communities. We know that 13 counties in Ireland have fewer than ten GPs willing to provide abortion services. Many counties have no provision at all for women. Therefore they must travel outside the county to avail of services, twice in many cases because of the three-day wait period prescribed in the legislation which is not based on any medical necessity. We know that the three-day wait period in particular causes real hardship for those women who struggle to get off work, those on low incomes and those at the end of the first trimester.

We know that last year more than 200 women had to travel to Britain to obtain abortions because the law here does not meet their needs. The old Irish solution to an Irish problem phenomenon has not gone away. Every woman who takes that lonely journey represents a failure by the Government and the State to deliver on the mandate the people gave us in 2018. Will the Taoiseach confirm when the review of the abortion legislation will be published? Will the Taoiseach confirm that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and the Government will ensure the review will address the inadequacies in the legislation, as illustrated by the evidence gathered by the team at Trinity College and the experiences so graphically expressed in the report by women describing how they had fared in seeking to access abortion care here?

We heard about awful scenarios relating to women who were awaiting diagnosis as to whether an anomaly was "fatal enough" to enable a termination after 12 weeks. Some of the definitions in the legislation are deeply problematic not only for women and their families, but also for doctors and medics who face criminalisation under this legislation if they do not get it right.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. The background is very clear, as she will be aware. In May 2018, the Irish people voted, overwhelmingly, to repeal the eighth amendment. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was introduced in December of that year, in line with the amendment and the debate. It is important to make that point. An all-party Oireachtas committee worked through the complexities of the legislation. There is a requirement under that Act to ensure a wide-ranging review to examine the effectiveness of the operation of the legislation. That is under way. Ms Marie O'Shea, BL, has been appointed as the independent chair of the review. The Unplanned Pregnancy Support and Abortion Care Study, which was conducted by Trinity College Dublin, is part of the review provided for in the legislation. That part of the review is being carried out by Dr. Catherine Conlon and is seeking to generate an in-depth understanding of the experiences of women who have accessed abortion care services since the commencement of the Act. It will be part and parcel of, and fed into, the review. It is expected to have the entire review completed by the end of the year.

The majority of terminations of pregnancy, up to nine weeks, take place in the community setting. There are approximately 413 termination-of-pregnancy providers in the community. This includes 403 GP contractors and ten women's health contractors. The HSE is saying it is satisfied that there is a good geographic spread. We need to wait for the review to be fully satisfied with that analysis, but that is what the HSE is saying.

In terms of maternity services, I am not satisfied. Eleven of the 19 maternity hospitals provide termination of pregnancy services. A number of other maternity hospitals are expected to introduce these services before the end of 2022. The Minister has provided additional funding for women's health and the national maternity strategy, to be fair. That is resulting in a significant increase in consultant posts in our maternity services, which is helping to overcome the barrier of conscientious objection in some locations. All 19 maternity hospitals offer a range of services with regard to termination of pregnancies, including supporting women with any post-termination complications, provision of ultrasound scanning, where required, and the management of fatal foetal anomaly cases. It is important that reviews of this kind happen. It is a significant and disturbing analysis. It will be fed into the overall review and then that will be brought to the House for decisions to be taken.

I thank the Taoiseach for confirming the date. He said the end of the year is when the review will be complete and that is useful to hear. I acknowledge that the legislation that we passed was, indeed, done on a cross-party basis and many of us banded together to facilitate the passing of that very important change in the law. However, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, there are still certain inadequacies, which could be addressed even pending the publication of the review. Geographic coverage and availability of services throughout the State, both through GPs and, indeed, hospitals, should be improved upon, even without awaiting the outcome of the review.

I welcome the announcement the Taoiseach has made today on safe access zones, but it is somewhat overdue, given that we had sought those back in 2018. They were promised in late 2018 by the then Minister and we have been awaiting them since because women are still being intimidated in seeking to access services. While inadequacies remain and women cannot access services, locally, in their own area, we know that the legislation is still inadequate to meet the real needs of women. We look forward to the publication of the review and the making of evidence-based changes necessary to improve women's access to services, but some things could be done now to ensure women get better access to service here.

It is important that we examine the review in its full context and take on board all of the research that will be undertaken to feed into the review. There is further work to be done.

I am satisfied the Minister is bringing forward the general scheme of a Bill on safe access zones. That is important, but getting it legally right was also important, as was getting the template right from a legal perspective.

We should also be conscious that others who are perhaps not covered had different experiences with how the Act operated, which were not good either. Those views should be taken into account as well and have to feed into our considerations. I do not want to go through individual cases but a case I came across certainly left me concerned about the operation of the Act, especially in respect of fatal foetal abnormality. These are complex issues at the best of times. However, the law of the land should apply and should be adhered to, particularly through the HSE.