Yesterday, Senator Davitt made a contribution in which he called for a debate on pregnancy loss. I commend him on that and echo his call for a proper debate on this issue. Commencement matters will no longer do. We are now the only country among our near neighbours in Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland that does not offer a pregnancy loss certificate under 24 weeks, or 23 weeks here in Ireland. This is quite shameful because what we have here is partition between the North and the South. In the North, people are told that their loss matters under 24 weeks and are given formal acknowledgement but in the Republic of Ireland, loss under 23 weeks is not acknowledged. A woman could be 22 weeks and six days pregnant, sitting in hospital having lost that pregnancy but she will get nothing, which is really heartbreaking. I commend the cross-party group that was formed and I have invited Senator Davitt to join following his contribution. The cross-party work that we have done since convening in July, which is not so long ago, is amazing. We will continue as a group to try to put this on the agenda. This is not party political business, but is everyone's business. For us to get it over the line, we have to collaborate and co-operate on it. I would welcome other Senators who wish to join the group. Our door is always open. I urge them to join because their contributions are valuable to the cause.

I also commend Cork City Council, particularly Councillor Shane O'Callaghan from Fine Gael and Councillor Peter Horgan from the Labour Party, who have brought this issue to the council's attention. The council will be examining its early pregnancy loss policy and championing this. I urge other councils to stand up and I have no doubt that we will all be lobbied on this. This has to change. We can no longer lag behind and use excuses. We need to bring this provision in. Families, women, guardians and parents need that acknowledgement because it gives them so much more than anything else we can offer. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on this issue.

Hear, hear.