‘The HSE does not take a position on abortion’

The HSE as an organisation does not take a position on abortion, says director general Tony O’Brien.

He was responding to letters sent to TDs by a psychiatrist, on HSE-headed paper, warning against repealing the Eighth Amendment.

He told a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee that the individual had been “met with” and would be taken through the “appropriate procedures” about the matter.