Safe access zones must be introduced urgently to stop 'intimidating' pickets, says Cork GP

Anti-abortion campaigners protest outside The National Maternity Hospital Holles Street, Dublin in 2019. Picture: Stephen Collins /Collins Photos

Laws to stop patients and staff from being intimidated outside surgeries and hospitals are urgently needed, a leading GP has said.

Mary Favier has said that current public order legislation, which the Department of Health cited as a way of policing protests, “is not working” as anti-abortion protests are still taking place outside healthcare facilities.