UN experts say a woman living in Ireland who was forced to choose between carrying a foetus to term knowing it wouldn't survive, or seeking an abortion abroad was subjected to discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Children's Minister James Reilly has been facing tough questions from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva.

Ireland will appear before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva this morning.

A UN committee has called on Ireland to hold a referendum on abortion.